And She Waited
by Aberrant Bliss
Summary: Rewrite completed. The god of Earth is lonely and overworked, presiding over his wild and destructive creations. The Golden Goddesses offer their help to him, but he is offended and sends a scornful symbol of destruction to their world.
1. Remix: Cold

Full Summary_: The god of the human world is lonely and overworked, presiding over the species he has single-handedly created. The Golden Goddesses of Hyrule offer their help to him, but he is offended and sends one of his humans, a scornful symbol of destruction, to their world. As time passes, however, it becomes apparent that this human is not what she was sent to be._

**Hello there! Welcome! I recently rewrote this story in the summer of 2011, so I am currently posting the rewritten version to the old version. :) I started this story when I was thirteen years old, and this is apparent in my writing. Still, the story grew on me. I left it on and off for years, but I'm in one of those phases where I really enjoy it again, hence the rewrite! :D It's kinda terrible. Just letting you know, but if you want to read you are more than welcome to! This rewrite is more or less the same story, but _hopefully_ with better proofreading, better continuity, and perhaps more believability. :3 I tried. :D**

**I'm sorry if my system is confusing to anyone. I would love to leave the rewritten chapters at the beginning, but the problem is that when I add new chapters, those who get alerts will be sent a link to the final chapter and not necessarily the newest chapter, so if I move it to the rewritten section right away, the alert link will send them to an old chapter. So, my idea has been to leave the newest chapter at the very end, after the old version, until I post a new chapter, at which point I will move the now second newest chapter to the rewrite section where it is supposed to be, and then the newest chapter will be at the end. **

**With that said, the rest of the chapters are totally in order, so if you wish to read, you can just go through consecutively until you reach the old version. **

**Phew! I really hope that isn't confusing. If anyone has a better idea, I would love to know it! :)**

**I also have a small blog where I post some extra information (usually just my thoughts and ideas, but also character bios) if you're interested in reading, but it's probably kinda lame. :) aberrantbliss. wordpress. com  
**

_**Anyway, welcome to my magnum opus. :)**_

_Last time I updated this was 8-13-07. :3  
_

**And She Waited Remix**

* * *

It's so cold…

Why do I feel like this?

Where is he?

He'll come…

* * *

The rhythmic beating of Epona's hooves on the ground sounded loudly and made him aware of how tired he'd grown…but he had to go save her.

Save _them_.

* * *

"Go away! Stay away from her!" she yelled, trying to find time for herself. Those words were the only ones she could think of.

He laughed a horrible, evil laugh that made her cringe in fear. She breathed heavily, her heart beating desperately to escape her own chest.

"He'll come, and then…you'll regret this…" Nothing but hollow threats to him.

He drew closer to her, his footsteps echoing throughout the marble room. "This is your end, girl…" She served no purpose. The girl was not supposed to be here, he had no idea where she came from, she meant nothing to him, and she was in the way. He drew his sword, prepared to off her instantly. At least he would get the satisfaction.

She stood in front of a pink bubble. She _had_ to get her out…

"Stay...away from Zelda, Ganondorf! He'll kill you when he comes…he'll...he'll…kill you." Her voice was shaking, stuttering. She held a small pocketknife in her hands, the only protection she had left. She had no skill, and she had barely any experience. It was barely worth it to hold the tiny blade.

He could tell. It was so obvious. She was shaking from head to toe. "Do you seriously think that little knife of yours can help you? You'll meet your end, here and now!" He was just toying with her. She could be dead right then. Her arm dropped to the side. _Hopeless_.

He raised his hand, and out came a greenish flow of magic. It rushed through her body, making her nauseous. Her muscles stopped doing what she told them to do.

"Meghan!" another girl's voice sounded.

She hit the ground.

* * *

"Faster, Epona, this is important!" He was half crying. How could he have been so careless? How had he let her go alone?

_"Zelda is in trouble, and I'm not going to stand here and wait!" She felt angry with him at that moment, and for some reason didn't care if she was hurting him by yelling at him, by basically accusing him of not caring enough to save Zelda. _

_"Meghan, we need to get the supplies before we can just barge in and fight him! We wouldn't accomplish anything!"_

_"I'm going, whether you come or not!" She pulled out the ocarina...which he'd intended to leave in her hands for just a short while.  
_

_"No, Meghan!" He reached out to grab her, but she had played the Prelude of Light and warped to the Temple of Time, taking his ocarina with her._

_"She won't actually go alone, will she? Oh no!" Link mounted Epona and rode as fast as possible…_

"How far did she think she could get?" And she had taken his ocarina, but _why_, damn it! He needed it! "Meghan, you'd better be all right, that's all I can say." He wouldn't even dare to think of what could happen…

"Come on, Epona!" They were nearing the collapsed bridge leading to the abandoned Hyrule Castle Town. He dismounted and ran at top speed to Ganondorf's castle. There were still more obstacles to come.

* * *

"How should I dispose of you?" Ganondorf said, pacing in front of the semi-conscious Meghan, eyeing Zelda and hoping that she was affected by the way he threatened the girl.

"Ganondorf, I swear, if you touch her, I'll _kill_ you…" Zelda said, still trapped in her pink gem-shaped bubble, floating above them, her voice reverberating back to herself.

Meghan was conscious, still hearing what was going on outside, but she couldn't move a single part of her body. Her head was spinning, like she was swirling around in space, but her eyes wouldn't open.

God, she felt so _stupid_...

* * *

_She burst out of the Temple of Time and headed straight to Ganondorf's castle. The sages had made a bridge for him when they had been there before…_

_Inside, she opened each door that had a symbol for each element above it, yet each door strangely led to nothing but empty rooms. She was unaware that Link was just behind her, entering each room and seeing something completely different. She went up the stairs at the center, up a tower that rose to the skies, and got to a final door with nowhere else to go. There was organ music that sounded like some terribly overused villain's theme-ominous and heavy. It stopped abruptly, as soon as she started backing away from the door. She was frightened then, realizing where exactly she was. Someone opened the door before she could run.  
_

_"Hello, girl." Meghan froze in horror, thoughts racing through her mind…why didn't I have my sword out? Why was that so easy? Why didn't I just wait for Link? She'd been so angry…_

_He was standing in front of her, laughing so hard, so malevolently. She felt tiny, incapable, her heart beating irregularly. She drew the Kokiri Sword shakily, (un)ready to fight, when she saw Zelda.  
_

_"Zelda!" Meghan's hand dropped, the sword falling to her side, clutched in her hand carelessly. She forgot about the evil man standing next to her in her want to help her friend._

_Bad mistake._

_She miraculously ducked just in time to miss a blow from Ganondorf's sword. Pulling the sword back into position, Meghan readied for a blow. He swung and she tried to block. But he was far too strong._

_The sword flung from her hands all the way across the room. Ganondorf's sword came crashing down, and she jumped back just in time to miss a blow. She escaped with just a cut, blood trickling down her hand…_

* * *

Link went through the different doors, which each held a small puzzle to solve, each with a likeness to the temples in Hyrule…Spirit, Shadow…Fire, Water…Forest and Light were each dispatched without much work. He even found new gauntlets that served to give him tremendous power, unlike anything he'd ever experienced, but nothing could relieve him of his worry. How did she get in so easily when he had to solve all of these puzzles? He didn't see her anywhere…

Finally, the force field around the center of the tower came down. He thought he saw some movement, something familiar fly up the stairs before him, but when he reached it, he found only monsters.

* * *

"Look at you, little girl, lying there helplessly, like a little bug, waiting to be _crushed_." Zelda was now doing all she could to get out of her bubble. Nothing seemed to work. "Does this make you ill, Princess? Would you be quite sad if your friend here was killed before your eyes?" Zelda stared helplessly, on the verge of tears. "Maybe I'll spare her if you stay out of my way. I only want the Triforce, Princess. I only want for you all to obey me."

Meghan thought she heard a door open. She couldn't move to see.

"_Die._" The sound was like a whisper, so far away…she didn't know who had said it.

Then came the sound of a sword crashing down on air, cutting wind…the sound of metal on metal…

Somebody had saved them.

Another scrape sounded, and she knew Ganondorf and the other person were farther away. She heard him, the one who had saved them, cry out in battle, releasing his frustration and energy.

She waited, frozen.

Clang, clang, clang. Then she heard sounds of magic, dark magic and electric shocks. It was terrifying. It seemed to last forever. She still couldn't move and she felt like she didn't even know where she was, but she was silently thanking the person for saving her, again. She was hoping he was all right.

"I'll be back…I'll have my revenge," Ganondorf said, suddenly breathing very hard. She heard what she thought was Ganondorf collapsing, a heavy thunk of flesh and armor. It was silent for a second. She heard heavy breaths.

"Is she…?" Link started to say, walking toward Meghan in a hurry. She heard another set of footsteps coming from the other direction that were light and delicate.

"She is all right. She is in a conscious state in which she can hear us, but cannot move. I'll see if I can revive her." Zelda knelt down beside Meghan, held out her hand, and a stream of magic flowed from it. Meghan felt a warm sensation, and gradually she could move again. She was sore for a second, and tired. Her muscles protested as she pushed herself up.

"Are you all right?" Link asked her, steadying her as she stood. She felt weakened, and she was leaning mostly on him. He, too, seemed a bit weak too, breathing heavily. She stood on her own.

"Mm-hm…you OK?" Meghan looked at Link, and noticed something different. "You got new gauntlets," she said tiredly, her voice quiet.

"Yeah, gold gauntlets."

"Those would have come in handy a few minutes ago…" Meghan held up her hand to show him what happened. It was still dripping from when Ganondorf had sliced her hand with his sword, right down the palm.

"Oh, let me help you fix that," he said, searching his pockets for some material to wrap it with. She held her hand away from her body, and he gently covered the cut.

"Good job. Thank you," Meghan said as she examined her wrapped hand. She smiled, and he smirked, feeling accomplished that he could treat her strange injuries. Link leaned on his knees, feeling drained. Zelda was looking out the stained glass window. "Hey, Link, I have potion…" Meghan said as she stuck her hand inside her little backpack. She held out some blue potion to him.

"No, I'm fine." He stood straight, as though to prove this.

"You're tired enough, take it."

"No, I can wait…I'll be fine in a second."

"No, you can't."

Zelda was standing next to the window, and she sighed. She watched as Meghan tried to shove the potion into his hands, but he repeatedly pushed her hands away.

_Like children_, she thought, feeling light hearted with their demeanors. _Could it be over_? She placed her gloved hand on the window. She could barely see through the darkly tinted window, and what she could see just looked even more harrowed than usual from here. _Could this be the end of the evil that once roamed our land? What shall become of Link and Meghan? I know what must be done…but I don't know how they shall be affected._

She looked back at Meghan and Link, who had Meghan's wrists in his hands. Zelda felt that they needed to leave this place of evil. Ganon's body lay, still, across the room, but she felt waves of evil traveling through the air, through the stone ground. She turned toward it, tilting her head, her mouth open and ready to alert the other two.

The ground started to shake, and Zelda knew what was happening. She had known it was too good to be true.

"Link, with his last breath, Ganondorf is trying to collapse this place!" Zelda warned.


	2. Remix: Bid My Blood To Run

"Come on! We have to go!"

"You should've listened to me," Meghan said, putting the cork back on her bottle and throwing it in her pack.

"Follow me!" Zelda said as they rushed down the tower. Zelda used her magic to open a gate, and they went onward. Debris from the collapsing tower was falling, barely missing their heads. A piece of debris hit Meghan's arm, burning it. She recoiled in pain for a second, but she stepped forward again, grasping the wound. He looked at her with worried eyes, but she didn't notice or care. So they kept going.

In the last room, a large piece of debris fell in front of Meghan and Link. They instinctively jumped backwards, separating them from Zelda, who had been ahead of them, leading them out. A wall of fire appeared around Zelda, and some monsters appeared, seemingly from nowhere. They had to get out fast... She did the only thing she could, before Link could jump in and waste his own energy fighting...the kid was tired enough.

She held her hands out, feeling somewhat childish, like she was in a movie. "Fury!" she yelled, some white, hot swirls emanating from her body. She fell to her knees for a second and watched as the monsters were knocked down before her eyes, shields too weak to protect them. She wondered how it even happened. She wasn't supposed to be able to do those things. She felt strange and tired, like her blood pressure had dropped suddenly.

"Meghan, why did you do that? It was way too risky. You don't know how to use that!" He helped her to her feet.

She tried to shake herself loose. Her mind was fuzzy. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I just wanted to…help you." He sighed and pulled her along, meeting Zelda on the way to the door. Why did she even do these things? She had no business in her fights. She could not fight. They ran out of the tower and watched it crumble before their eyes…

All right, so that was the end of it. Cool. "Link, take this and don't argue with me about it." Link took the bottle of potion and drank half of it.

"Take the rest." He offered the cool bottle back to her.

"Eeeeww! No! You just drank from it!" Although at this point, she would love to have any kind of nourishment.

"So?" he asked, truly confused.

She sighed now, not explaining the whole _cootie_ thing. "You're right." Meghan hesitantly drank the rest of the contents, which tasted like berries, and immediately felt rejuvenated.

"Thanks."

"You're—"

He was cut off by a sound.

"What was that?" Zelda inquired, glancing around.

"I'll go look."

Meghan started to follow him, but Zelda held her back.

"No, it could be dangerous. You just wait here." Zelda recognized Meghan's overly-eager-without-the-right-to-be nature.

"But…uh, OK." _Oh...yeah. Godly powerful evil kings. Right._

Something moved as Link stepped forward. He stepped back. Another wall of fire formed around the outside of the collapsed tower, keeping Zelda and Meghan from getting to Link.

"Watch out!" Meghan cried. Zelda pulled her back from the flaming wall. Ganondorf appeared, floating in the air. He transformed into a sickening and grotesque monster, twice Link's height, muscled and dark. It walked with heavy steps, roared ferociously with its head tilted back. Meghan's heart started to beat quickly.

It was terrifying...

Link drew the Master Sword. Ganon swiped at him and though Link raised his sword to block, he couldn't stay standing. He slid across the floor and hit a large piece of the collapsed tower. He cringed in pain.

"Link, Link! Link, are you OK?" the girls yelled. They ran around the fiery border, trying to find a way to him.

Link shook himself off, standing. "For the sake of Hyrule," Link started quietly, "you shall _die_!" he said, louder. He charged at Ganon.

"Zelda, we have to help him! Can you use your magic to make a hole in the fire, just for a few seconds?"

Link charged and hit Ganon's armored stomach. "Link, I don't know what his weakness is!" Navi cried. He took one look, though, and knew right away. Link charged, this time hitting its tail. "Yes, you found it!" Navi cried. "Come on, Link, we can do this!"

"We can't help him. There is nothing we can do that he can't. This is his destiny, and we are not capable." They watched as Link was nearly thrown back again, and he evaded by just a hair. "But I have to try," Zelda said, feeling terrible that Link was facing that monster.

Zelda used her magic, and soon there was a hole in the fire. Meghan jumped through, but it closed before Zelda could come through. Zelda had lost her focus, surprised with Meghan's rash actions. _What is she doing? The girl will be killed! She cannot face Ganon. Is she unaware of how weak she is, or is she just that determined to help? Or is she that foolish?_

"Stay here!" Meghan yelled.

"But you—" Meghan was already running toward Link. "Meghan! Come back! Do not-"

"Link!"

"Meghan, what are you _doing_ here? Get _out_ of here! Now!" He yelled as he evaded Ganon's swipes.

"I'm going to help you. Please!"

"I need you to get out-"

"Meghan, use the Light Arrows!" Zelda yelled. At least that might keep her out of harm's way...though she couldn't actually use _Light_ Arrows. How could Link even tolerate having her there? She would only hold him back, since now he had two bodies to protect. But there was some strange connection between them. She hardly saw a change in his anxiety...

"Hand them over," Meghan said, holding her hands out.

"Watch out!" Link pushed Meghan out of the way as Ganon swiped at them. "Here, take them!" Link dumped his bow and quiver in Meghan's hands. "Get way back!" Meghan cocked an arrow and released it. It was relatively easy to get him somewhere on his gargantuan body. It let out an earsplitting roar. Link slashed again. "Good shot," he said absentmindedly._ Just stay the hell back. _

"Come on you! You can do it!" Zelda enthusiastically cheered. He needed to use the light arrows himself, though. This wasn't doing them any good...

As soon as Meghan was going to release the third arrow, Ganon took a huge swipe at them. Link tried to block with his sword, but it got knocked out of his hand. If he'd held on, he would have been sent flying again. Meghan didn't have a weapon in her hand, and didn't even think about the bow, so she attempted to dodge it.

But she wasn't quick enough.

Ganon's sword cut her across the stomach. She gasped, clutching her stomach. She lost her footing, falling to the floor.

"Meghan!"

Zelda gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Link grabbed her and pulled her back roughly, out of Ganon's reach. Ganon let out another growl, this one sounding triumphant. He knelt down next to her, looking her in the face, and went to examine the wound, but Ganon was getting impatient, rushing in their direction. He had no choice but to make her wait, though his heart seriously disagreed with him…

He lifted her gently, carried her to a large boulder within the vicinity, and leaned her against it.

"Wait here," he whispered. "I'll be right back, just hold on and don't, _don't_ leave me." Meghan looked up with wide scared eyes, nodded, still holding her stomach. He went…

…and she waited.

She watched as the battle waged on. She waited as Link did perfectly what the two of them had just done, fueled by worry and impatience. She had to hang on, and she tried. She watched. The pain came in waves. Everything as a blur… a burst of light from the arrows…a glint of light reflected from the Megaton hammer. She turned her head just slightly enough to see the Master Sword beyond the fiery wall. But as Ganon grew weaker, the wall of fire grew weaker too. _I can help_, she thought. _If it's the last thing I do, I can help Hyrule._


	3. Remix: Heroes of Sorts

Burst…glint…

It was bound to happen sometime.

Burst…glint…

On the count of three.

Burst…glint…

One…two… She inched up the rock, and to her luck Link wasn't looking. She took a hesitant step, and the pain was excruciating.

"Meghan, don't!" Zelda was rushing toward her, but Meghan pushed her away.

"I have to do this. I'm never any use. I…" Meghan groaned and nearly fell. Zelda rushed over to help her.

"Dear! Meghan! I do not think that you should torture yourself if that's what it means to help. He's fine, look, he's coming to get it himself. Look, he's coming over!"

"No, I'll do it…" Meghan began her painful march, to help, chanting Link's name in her head. She stumbled.

* * *

Meghan and Link sat on a house in Kakariko village, watching the red and purple sky as the sun set.

"You know, Meghan," he began "I think there are two types of heroes. One fights, physically or verbally, for what they believe to be right. Some might even consider an evil man such as Ganondorf to be a hero, if that's what they believe in.

"But, the second type is one who lives their life enjoying it with others, helping others with whatever he can. He doesn't have to fight. I want to be a hero in the second way. Not this Hero of Time person. It is merely a title. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but I found so many friends along the way, on my journeys. They all inspire me. They are _my_ heroes. Some of...the closest I've felt to anyone sit here now." He paused, turning his head slightly toward her, but not looking at her. "I just want to help them in return. For now, I think it means I have to fight, but I don't always want to be this."

Meghan was surprised. She was glad he considered her to be such a good friend. "Thank you, Link, for everything you do. I don't know if people thank you enough." Maybe because they didn't know what he was doing, but he seemed to prefer his anonymity.

"I should be thanking you. I was so…alone before. It seemed like no one could truly _be_ with me. I don't know...my _mind_ was lonely, like no one understood the destiny I had to face. And no one understands how I feel so different. You are the only person I've _really_ talked to in a very long time. I guess because life handed you something so different as well. You're sort of my hero."

"Which kind?" she asked, and she giggled. She wasn't sure if she understood his whole "two types of heroes" thing. Maybe he was too smart for her.

* * *

**...Waah these chapters are so short O.o Don't worry, plenty of ridiculously long madness later on... :P**


	4. Remix: Lost Friend

Meghan was almost near the Master Sword. Link was still fighting valiantly. He hadn't been coming to get the sword. Zelda had just been trying to save Meghan.

"Meghan, you have to stop! You'll die!" Zelda held her gently, as Meghan sat on the floor, wavering.

"So I'm going to die now? That's _real_ inspiring."

_Meghan must have lost too much blood,_ Zelda thought. _She's never acted so ungracious._ _She's already in too much pain._ Zelda didn't even know much about hypoperfusion, but she could tell Meghan was kinda in trouble.

_Almost there, _Meghan thought. She pulled herself forward. Her hand could reach Link's Master Sword. Oh, it seemed so heavy! How on earth was she supposed to bring it to where he was?

She turned her head and saw Ganon's claws rain down on Link. He pushed his shield up in time, the force sliding him to the side. Navi flit about, shouting to him. He pushed away, his other strange weapon gleaming as he charged on a weak spot.

_Yes!_ _Link_, oh now she could! He was her inspiration! Such bravery, such determination! _I will bring it to him! _"Link, Link!" she chanted. Wow,_ she must have sounded so stupid._ Only then did Link realize the situation going on behind him. He did a double take, making sure Ganon was far enough away that he could escape.

"Meghan! No!" He ran to meet them, taking the sword in a hurry and throwing the Megaton Hammer across the ground with a loud clatter. His body was set, half to lean down to her, half to spring himself in the other direction to continue his battle.

"Here Link, I brought this for you," she said, in a daze. "I thought you might need it."

Link hesitated momentarily, his gaze switching between Meghan and the angered Ganon.

"Link, finish Ganon!" Zelda cried. "_Go_!" she screamed. Link abruptly turned to finish his battle. Zelda made Meghan sit down, and attempted to heal her. But she was beginning to realize her magic wouldn't work as well on someone who wasn't from Hyrule. Meghan was barely even seeing what was going on before her, still feeling light-headed, thirsty, and increasingly cold. She was shivering, but thought no one noticed since Zelda had left her a moment to hold Ganon off with her magic, while Link finished him with the Master Sword.

She supposed something happened then, hearing emotional and deadly cries from Link, roars of some doomed monster. She also heard people talking in another language, somewhere in her mind, as the sky turned to a magnificent rainbow. She didn't understand what was going on in the bizarre back-of-her-mind conversation, until they switched to English.

"_This girl, she served Hyrule well. 'Tis now your decision, Farore, whether she will go back to her old life, or continue living in Hyrule."_

"_**She is not native to Hyrule, Nayru, but she has made a new life in Hyrule. It is not her time to return, and she will enjoy it with the people she loves here, until it is."**_

"**I agree with Farore. Her destiny was not ours to create at first, but now we can shape it since she left the care of the human's god. In this dimension, she will be what she will."**

"_Then it is settled. You shall stay, child. I do hope you're happy with Farore's decision. She is the creator of life, and therefore she knows life better than all__**.**_"

Meghan felt compelled to say, "Thank you."

The daydream faded from her eyes and she found herself looking up at Link. The first thing she saw was Link looking away from her and Zelda, squeezing the tears from his eyes. "Meghan, come on! Please, _don't leave me_." He touched her face. He realized her eyes were open, and he smiled.

"Meghan…" he said, looking into her eyes.

"_Don't worry...I'll stay, I'll stay_…" she whispered, sending a message to her lips to smile, but she was unaware that this only came out as a contorted grimace. "It's so cold..."

She finally felt warmth and noticed Zelda's glowing hands hovering over her before...

* * *

"Uhhhg…" she moaned as she awoke. "Link?" Meghan said, frantic for a second. What happened? Where was she? The world wasn't registering in her mind, although her eyes opened to blurred images. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, a few minutes, but she was beginning to realize she was in a very different place.

"Meghan," he said, going to her from the stool he had been sitting on, reading something. She was sitting up, pushing and kicking the blanket from herself. He gently pushed her back down. "Rest, for now," he murmured, kneeling beside the bed. His wide eyes stared down at her. He couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Oh my god!" she yelled in a hoarse voice, trying to sit up before he could stop her. "Ganon…did…you, Zelda, we…?" she asked awkwardly. She blinked hard, shaking her head and trying to get rid of the vertigo.

"Yes, Meghan, it's all over. Don't worry. Everyone's fine...well, except for you. Oh, here, have some water," he offered, running to fill up a cup. He handed it to her and helped her sit up, cradling her in his right arm like a child. She was surprised that she was so thirsty, and he knew exactly what to give her.

"Where's Zelda? I think I need to talk to her." All she could think were those last moments, when she'd completely blown Zelda off. Disobeyed that princess. Used her. Yelled at her. It was strangely amplified in her mind, like she'd made the most terrible choices. But still Zelda had healed her.

"She's been here, for a little while. You just missed her. She said she had to find someone." He looked away with a tiny smile on his face. But only a tiny one. "And...she'd truly the princess again, now."

"Oh...will she come back?"

"Yes, I told her I'd tell her when you've awoken...so she can to talk to you." The look on his face was now solemn, strangely contradictory to how happy he'd seemed. It seemed like something had gone wrong, but she saw that it wasn't something for him to tell.

"What time is it? Was I sleeping for long?"

"A few hours," he said, his expression now strangely blank. "Zelda used her magic to put you to sleep, so you wouldn't be in pain. It's early morning now. She set out when the sun started to rise."

"Oh,_"_ she said, aware of some stinging around her navel. Didn't seem that bad, though. She wondered who Zelda had gone to find.

"Zelda had tried to heal you, but it took longer than she expected. She did just enough so that you could heal by yourself the rest of the way. I can go get her, but I'm not going to leave you here alone. I'll tell the twins to watch you." Another small and wistful smile. "They liked to pretend they were healers when we were young."

"Oh, but I want to come with you! Wait, I _actually_ want to go see her!" She pushed away blankets, ignoring the small whiff of _Link scent_ her nose caught when the covers flew over.

"No, you shouldn't. So lie down," he said. "I need you to be in top shape when Zelda comes. Wait here. I'll be right back." He returned a minute later with one of the twins, one of the little Kokiri. Meghan pretended she was asleep when they walked in, fooling them both. She didn't feel like talking to the twin, who she knew would talk a lot, and ask a million questions Meghan either couldn't answer or wouldn't want to. "_Make sure she doesn't get up. And if she tries, don't let her go anywhere,_" he whispered to the girl.

"All right, whoever you are," the twin said skeptically. "I still think you remind me of someone. And you're _really_ tall. Why are we in Saria's house?"

"She said I could borrow it," Link said with a sigh.

"All right, mister. See ya!" Link left and Meghan was left alone with the young girl. She couldn't risk opening her eyes, but she heard very faint footsteps on the wooden floor, then a tiny brush of feet on the rug at the center of the room. The girl seemed to be coming closer, but Meghan couldn't tell what she was doing. Then the movement stopped, and the girl seemed to be rather close.

She waited a few minutes, but she felt herself falling drifting into some dream land. As she surfaced, she told herself she couldn't do that. She needed to speak to Zelda, so she pretended to wake. She yawned and slowly opened her eyes. The twin was staring at her from the edge of the rug, leaning over and peering at her. As she saw Meghan's eyes open, she jumped back a bit, looking like a little squirrel. Or another woodland creature. Meghan thought of something to say quickly to dispel the awkwardness; they had been staring at one another for a bit too long.

"Hello. Where's your sister?"

"She's still at our house," the little girl said slowly, her eyes wide and her voice soft.

"Oh…" Meghan tried to think of something to say, but couldn't think of anything. She just looked away, since the girl seemed content staring with creepy blue eyes that were too large for her face. _Why do I have to be babysat?_ she wondered. _By a baby, no less. _"Sooo," Meghan said after a few seconds, looking at her. "Did...uh...Link tell you anything?"

"Link?" she asked, her eyes growing impossibly larger.

_Oops, I forgot she doesn't know. _"Yeah, maybe I should tell you…" Meghan thought of the consequences…couldn't be too bad, right? "That _is_ Link."

"_What_? Oh Great Deku Tree! It is? Well, it has been seven years, but Kokiri don't grow up." She said this all matter-of-factly, as though Meghan didn't know such a thing.

"He's not a Kokiri. He's Hylian and he was always bound to leave this forest," Meghan quoted from what the Deku Sprout had told him (and then he told her). Link had been raised here in the forest, thinking he was one of the ever-young spirits of the forest, the Kokiri, but he _wasn't_. He was a Hylian all along, a proud and magical race.

Kinda mind-boggling. _Oh hey, haha, you know that species you thought you were? Well, yeah, haha, you're actually a completely different species...you'll grow up and grow old and die. What, you weren't expecting that? OK, well to make up for it, you can go on an adventure to save the entire world, and if you fail, everything is doomed. Haha, doesn't that sound like fun?  
_

"Really? Is Saria too? Is that why she's not here anymore?"

"No, she's Kokiri," Meghan assured her.

"Then where'd she go?"

"Uhh, on vacation."

_OK,_ Meghan thought, _Link better come back before I reveal anymore potentially dangerous info. I probably shouldn't even be saying these things. It's not really my business._ Meghan leaned back against the wall as the girl made comments about several things in the room.


	5. Remix: Seven Days to Seven Years

As the girl was telling Meghan a story about the time she and Saria beat Mido at hide and seek, Link appeared at the door. As he walked in, they saw that Zelda was at his heels. Meghan sat up straighter.

"Hello, Meghan," she said with a polite smile.

"Hi, Zelda…" Meghan said hesitantly. "Are-"

"Wait a second..." Zelda stood still, as though waiting for something to happen, turning to the girl and Link.

"_Why_ didn't you _tell_ _us_ who you _were_?" the twin yelled as she pointed a finger at Link, her face fearsome and accusatory in a frown which couldn't be rightfully described as anything but _cute_.

"I…I tried, but…" Link said as he took a step back from the twin's accusing finger, "You…I…" Zelda and Meghan were trying to refrain from laughing.

The girl put her hands on her hips. "We missed you, Link. We don't appreciate you forgetting about us. Don't you remember when you were supposed to play hide and seek with us?"

"I..."

She moved closer. As though the little thing could possibly be menacing to him. "No? Well, the day you apparently left the forest was the day of the competition. Team challenge? Remember? You, Saria, and me and my sister? We were going to beat the others. Because you left, Saria got all worried and me and my sister had to work with the Know-It-All brothers. Ew!"

"I'm sorry, Remi..." If only he could explain...

"Who is this girl? She kinda looks like you. Is she your sister?"

"I am Zelda. I am not his sister."

"Oh, Zelda! I've heard of you. You're the princess, right? Saria told me that."

"Yes, that's correct." Zelda smiled warmly. "Your forest is lovely," she said softly, leaning to the girl's level.

"Glad you like it! Well, I'd better get going. A house doesn't clean itself, you know!" She skipped off like nothing had happened.

"Well, that was strange," Meghan said. Link exhaled like he had just been let off the hook. Did he remember everything the girl had just told him? No. He didn't, and he felt awful about it. His memories from that time were crisp still, but something about that last day or so in the forest was blurry and hazy. A point when his life had stopped being fun-and-games-driven and became duty-driven.

"Just you wait, Link. The rest of them will come, too," Zelda said with mock gravity.

"Just how much did you tell them, anyway?" he asked Meghan, slightly accusingly. He was joking, but some part of him wished they didn't know who he was. He didn't want to feel so much like he didn't belong with his childhood friends. If he was missing, maybe things could be frozen how they had been, and it would be easy to go back to...like all this had never happened...

"Oh, that's it..."

"Good," he said with a smile.

"So," Meghan said, now serious. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, but Zelda held her arm out, indicating for her to remain seated. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Zelda."

"Meghan, it is completely understandable. Don't worry about it. But we have more important business to tend to." They completely ignored her apology. Meghan looked from Link to Zelda. They both were thinking about something she didn't know. "Yes, this is important." Zelda began solemnly. Link had pulled up one of his wooden stools for each of them before she began. Zelda sat gingerly on the edge, sitting straight with perfect posture.

"Meghan, seven years ago I gave Link the Ocarina of Time. I had told him that if he gathered the three Spiritual Stones, we could protect the Triforce from Ganon." She paused for a moment, the words choked in her throat. "Goodness, this is harder to say than I expected. Well, what I am trying to say is that I opened the Door of Time and accidentally let Ganon in. He stole the Triforce, and Hyrule plunged into a time of despair and violence. Our whole adventure was for the purpose of awakening the sages so they could help Link seal Ganon away forever, and we have mostly succeeded." She gave sad smile. "But I was a little girl when I made the decision to save Hyrule. It was the wrong decision to make, and it has to be reversed."

Link let out a sigh and closed his eyes, touching one hand to his temple. He knew what was coming next.

"It is too dangerous to keep the Door of Time open much longer. Ganon was sealed within the Sacred Realm, within the darkest bowels of it. But if we leave the door open much longer, it is possible he could find a way out. We need to put the Master Sword back in its pedestal, so the door will close.

"But, by doing this, you know the doorway between the two time periods would be lost forever. In order to save Hyrule, though, this must be done." Meghan showed a surprised look on her face, looking at Zelda. "Link will return to being a child." She paused, staring Meghan straight in the eyes with her lips parted slightly. "But I don't know what would happen to you," she said, her voice breaking, her head shaking.

"But-that means…I could…go back to where…I came from…or…"

"Yes. It must be done."

Meghan nodded her head, swallowing.

"I am going to give you a week, for you to heal…and for you two…well, I cannot say it will be a goodbye, but there is a chance."

Tears sprung into Meghan's eyes. She looked at Link. "_I don't want to go back_," she whispered. She realized. She knew.

"Meghan, you have done more for Hyrule than most Hylians, Kokiri, Zora or Gorons ever have. You stood, you faced a true _monster_. Bravery as such is hard to come by." She stood and gave Meghan a hug. Meghan started to cry. Zelda sighed heavily and held her, sitting beside her on the bed and waiting for the tears to stop. "I must thank you for coming to my aid. Ssh, all will be fine. Ssh," she said. "The goddesses are kind. Perhaps they will decide you will stay, if you do wish to."

Meghan's eyes stared hollowly ahead as she thought. _Seven days. Will that be enough? I don't know what I'll do if I have to go back…I just couldn't live…with this. I don't know what I'd do, I really don't know. Why is it whenever something good happens, it has to go away? How can all of this just become some memory?_

Meghan barely even realized that now Link was there, also holding her. She was just confused.

_What is my life?_


	6. Remix: A Forced Fate: Day One

**A FORCED FATE**

**DAY 1 (168 Hours Remain) (lolz jk)**

* * *

It all seemed like a blur. She barely remembered Zelda leaving yesterday. Somehow, she'd fallen asleep, and part of her was wondering if Zelda had used her magic to make her sleep again. Or was she that tired? She didn't think Link had slept at all, but then again, he rarely slept. She woke up early in the morning again, her body achy and uncomfortable, and it had been time for her to get up.

She had felt dirty and sweaty, so she had decided to take go wash up. Link had tried to dissuade her, but he couldn't actually do anything about it other than walking her as far to the girls' bathing stream as he dared, and waiting for her to return.

_Seven days, _she thought_. Seven days. Like seven years, it's all connected. All connected. It must mean something. I wonder what's gonna happen? Seven days, seven days. It's like I want it to come, just to see. But it's probably something bad, so no. I don't want it to happen. Seven days. And I guess yesterday didn't count as a day._

"Seven days!" she said out loud. They were in Link's house. She was sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall, and he was sitting on a stool, lost in thought like she was, a book held opened but unread in his hands. They had been talking, but somehow the conversation had died a few minutes prior.

"What?" he asked, surprised out of his thoughts. "What happened?"

"Seven days," she said, as though he was supposed to know what she was talking about.

"Forgive me; I'm lost. I know we have seven days, but…"

"We have seven days, so what are we doing, moping around in here?"

"Huh?" he said, shocked. Meghan was now giggling.

"We have seven days. And we are wasting time!" She got up, wincing, and pulled him outside onto the balcony. She put her hands up in the air.

"Woohoo! Thank you goddesses. We have seven days!" It seemed her bemusement from the day before was passed on to Link, who was staring at her like she was an alien…which was probably justified.

"Let's go somewhere," she suggested.

"No." He shook his head. "You should just sit." He made a face. "I don't know too much, but I think it's better for you to not strain yourself. Right?"

"Let's go…to the desert," she said, ignoring him. It was barely an injury. She was certain her exhaustion had been caused by something other than this tiny little scratch on her abdomen. It stung, but it wasn't unbearable.

"Why there?" He wasn't particularly fond of the desert, but he knew how she had been fascinated by it. The ancient Desert Colossus, the Spirit Temple, and the culture. The climate. The strong female race. He supposed it was interesting enough, but maybe she didn't have the same antipathy towards it because she didn't fully understand what had come out of it. Even though she fully knew. Or maybe that _was_ the fascination.

"I don't know." She was thinking of the temple, and the beautiful statue room within. She could explore that place, if it was free of monsters now, all day if she was allowed to.

"But you need to take it easy." He smiled at her, trying to convince her. "Let's just stay here. I'll call Saria. She can come over."

"Well, let's go sit down in the forest, rather than in your house. It's so nice outside!"

Meghan playfully pushed him. He went down the ladder first, helping her down. He put one arm behind her waist as she descended, keeping her steady, determined to not let her fall or work too hard.

"Are you all right?" he asked, letting her go as she touched the ground.

"Yeah, thanks..." She clutched her stomach, feeling protective of her healing wound when she saw the children running around. He put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. But before she could finish what she was saying, the throng of Kokiri came up to Link, surrounding him and Meghan. He withdrew his arm from her.

"We want answers!"

"Yeah, why didn't you _tell_ us?" Fado cried.

"We were worried _sick_!"

"Where's Saria?"

"I-"

"Don't give us that! We want _answers_!"

"I was just about to answer…" he said, holding up his arms, looking rather frightened of the children half his height. Meghan wanted to laugh, but at the same time it was odd just how much he looked like he _did_ fit in with them. Especially when he was so speechless like this. it made him seem younger.

"You're Hylian?"

"Yeah…well…"

"So who is this girl?"

"All right, guys, give the hero a bit of room," a girl's voice said, cutting through the squeaky chatter.

"Is that…?" Link and Meghan turned around, and the Kokiri peered around their tall bodies to see who was behind them.

"SARIA!"

Now the bunch of Kokiri surrounded Saria. It fit her much better; she was actually their height. The girls reached out and hugged her.

"Saria! Where have you been? We were worried sick!"

"Amazing. _She _doesn't get yelled at," Link said playfully. Though it seemed so natural to him, for the bunch of children to be gathered around like this, it was still _off_ somehow. Like himself, Saria belonged here completely, but something about her had matured. She was different. She knew about the evils of the world, while the idea of a misanthropic and autocratic ruler was not an idea the other Kokiri could even comprehend.

"Hey, Link! Meghan! There's something I need to talk to you about," Saria said as she escaped the horde of inquiring Kokiri. "Come with me!"

"OK!"

They followed Saria to the Sacred Forest Meadow, walking slowly for both Saria's short legs and Meghan's lack of breath. Along the way, she chattered. "You see, Link, you don't understand how worried they were about you! You think that they might not have missed you, but they always have. It was only Mido who was jealous_,_ but he wondered where you went too. I know they're glad that they finally know who you are and what you've been up to. They're just not capable of lingering over such a thing."

Meghan noticed how Mido was always considered the leader. Self appointed. It seemed, however, that Saria was much more revered. Saria was the unspoken voice, the force behind even Mido. All the Kokiri loved her and listened to her. It made sense. She was a sage.

"You know you and I have always been different from them," she said, and it seemed that she was trying to covering up sadness about this fact. When they got to the meadow and sat down, Saria said, "Zelda told me her decision. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

Meghan was sitting on the soft grass, Link perching at the end of the stone transportation symbol. Both Link and Meghan shook their heads solemnly, looking in different directions. "No, we're fine." He looked at Meghan. "Right, Meghan?"

"Yup, good as pie."

"Excuse me?" Saria asked, confused.

"I mean, yeah, we're fine." She smiled.

"If there _is_ anything, just let me know."

"Thank you," Meghan said with a smile. What could she do, anyway? Meghan couldn't think of how she could help, unless she knew how to ensure bad things didn't happen. "So I guess we're not going to the desert today?"

"Guess not. Let's just stay here," Link said, glad that Saria had come by in time. They had fun and forgot things that troubled them. For both Meghan and Link, Saria had been their first friend in Hyrule, so there was something inherently comfortable about being with her. They talked for a very long time. Meghan lay back in the grass, turning her head to see Saria and Link.

Meghan started to not say as much, her laugh growing hollow. Link looked at her worriedly. She still wasn't completely back to normal. She looked tired.

At a lull in the conversation, he looked to Saria. "We'd better get going. I should bring Meghan back."

"I don't need to go back!" she cried, feeling bad to tear the friends apart, even if she no longer felt like talking. She enjoyed staring up at the sky from the enclosed, mossy meadow. She knew the Forest Temple was just near her, but she had never seen it. Her unquenchable curiosity caused her to want to explore it like she had the other temples, once Link had cleared them of evil. Link had mentioned that the Forest Temple was exceptionally beautiful. But she found herself quite unable to move a muscle.

"Whoa! Calm down. I'm just worried." Link said, putting his hands up like he was going to ward off a blow. "You look a little like you're going to pass out again."

"I'm not! i enjoy lying here. I'm thinking about the Forest Temple. I haven't seen it."

"Not sure if you want to," Saria said gravely.

"Oh..." Meghan said, wondering if it was out of place for her to see the temples. Much less explore them. They were probably quite holy, not a teenager's history project. She closed her mouth, sitting up. "Sorry..."

"No, it's only because it's haunted," Saria said in a voice meant to be spooky, but with its childlike timbre, her voice only sounded adorable. Meghan couldn't help but laugh. "And you know who haunts it?"

Meghan shook her head.

"A ghost...named Meg!" Saria cried. Meghan let out a peel of laughter, thinking Saria was joking. "I'm not kidding!" she cried again.

"Wait, what? Really?"

"Well," Link said, standing and going to her. He held out his hands to pull her from the ground,"firstly, they are no longer there. As Saria knows. And there were also three other ghosts." He laughed. "I'd totally forgotten one of them was named Meg. She was rather upset that her sisters were finally sent to the Sacred Realm."

"Oh," Meghan said, thinking it strange that a ghost had shared her nickname. She couldn't tell if Link was telling the story to be funny, as Saria had been, or if he actually felt bad about it at that point. She supposed he shouldn't feel bad if they were evil ghosts and they were trapping Saria, but she briefly wondered about how he must have felt while exterminating the more anthropomorphic baddies.

"Well then, goodbye, Meghan. Goodbye, Link."

"We'll see you later!" Meghan said as Link walked to her.

"Goodbye, Sage Saria," Link said, reaching his hand out to take hers with a gentle smile on his face. Saria stood atop the tree stump she'd been sitting on, so as to be the same height as him, and took his hand.

"Thank you, Link," she said. Navi and Saria's fairy met in the air and hugged. Seeing them, Saria was inspired to do the same, and she pulled Link into a hug. He laughed, returning the hug and planting a kiss on Saria's green head.

Meghan waved as they started to walk back to the residential area of the forest. Saria waved. They walked in silence at a slow pace for a while, both lagging and slow through the maze and the trees. It was some impossible path that Link seemed to know well, but every turn he took looked the same as the last bunch of trees to Meghan.

"Well, that was cool. I'm tired."

"I'd expect you to be."

Meghan realized what she had just said, and tried to contradict it. "I mean…I'm not _that_ tired. Not _that_ kind of tired."

"_Sure,_" he teased, casting her a sideways smile.

"_Hey_! I _mean_ it…OK, I don't mean it. I'm tired."

"Good. Now let's go home." Meghan had been staying at Saria's house, since Saria was never there anymore. As they walked to her house, she waved goodnight to Link. He walked up to her, though.

"Meghan," he said as he took one of her hands, somewhat haphazardly. For a moment, she found it to be a rather awkward and paling attempt to recreate the utterly sweet moment he'd just shared with Saria. "I just want you to remember that, whatever happens, we must stay strong. What will happen is our destiny, so we cannot change it."

"Yeah," she said looking into his eyes. She kinda thought little motivational speeches like those were unnecessary, but it didn't seem to matter at that moment. He gave good little speeches that imparted strength. She sighed. He gave a half smile, not yet letting go, and she wondered if he was going to continue the reenactment with a hug or a kiss on her less-than-vibrant head. She had always thought he was rather nice looking, but as she looked into his fire-lit blue eyes, their proximity made her heart beat quickly and her breath catch.

She herself was not very pretty, at least she thought. She had long, dark brown hair. Her eyes were dark brown as well. She was an average height. She had always been a bit chubby, those last few pounds that wouldn't seem to go away. She'd lost weight since coming here, but contrary to what she might have believed about losing weight before, she was still nothing special. Nothing compared to these leaf-haired, ocean-eyed wonders.

As she stared into his eyes she became almost hypnotized, and barely even realized that he was moving closer. Her stomach twisted and she got an odd feeling like she had to get away. It was embarrassing, and for whatever reason, his other hand landed on her arm. She considered hugging him at the moment, but she knew she couldn't match the friendship he had with Saria. So recreating that cuteness was not going to happen. She pulled away from his hands and he let go as though nothing had happened. She said goodnight, as did he.

"_Wow, that was awkward_," she whispered, leaning against the wall just inside, the curtain door drawn behind her as she entered the house. _His eyes…like, hypnotized me. They're so beautiful._

Link was still standing outside Saria's house. Just staring into the sky as Navi flew excitedly around his head. He felt, for a moment, content, warm and-

"Link! You were _sooo_ close!" Navi yelled in Hylian.

"Ssh! Be quiet, she'll _hear_!" He reached up to take his fairy in his hand, gently. So close to what, _exactly_? What had that moment been, just now? Nothing but awkward, he thought.

"She doesn't understand Hylian, silly!"

He sighed, toting his fairy back to his own house, giving up with those pesky things called _thoughts_. Though it was nigh impossible.

Meghan lay down after washing up and changing. She was thinking how much her life had changed. How Hyrule had changed it. What an adventure.


	7. Remix: History: Part One

**~-~FLASHBACK~-~**

_I just need someone to talk to. Someone who will listen. Give me someone! Give me a person. Is that so hard? You don't even exist, god. You're such a stupid figment of everyone's imagination. You make no sense. I don't know why anyone believes in you. You're so dumb. What a dumb idea someone had. If there was a god, I wouldn't be so alone. I wouldn't be here crying. You're useless. A useless, dumb piece of dumbness. No one cares about me…no one cares—_

Enough.

She felt an emotional pain akin to a slap across the face.

_**Let us aid you**—_

Enough! If you wish to help, then here. Here is destruction. She is yours now. Your piece of destruction. Answer her prayers—if you can before she destroys your world.

She felt numb, slipping away. Echoing...haunting music.

A fade to white.

* * *

She fell back against a wall made of stone, her head spinning. She gained control just in time to avoid smacking her head.

"Ow! God damn it, what the _hell_?" she cried out. Her stomach flipped and adrenaline seemed to build up in her as she realized that this was not where she'd thought she'd been. She looked up, she saw somebody sitting atop a horse, playing an instrument. It seemed like his eyes had been closed, but they opened and the eerie music stopped as she looked up, breathing hard. He slowly lifted his head. They stared at each other for a while.

"Um…can I help you?" he questioned as he dismounted. He spoke in another language. She just stared at him, choking out sounds. OK, what the hell was this? When she didn't respond, he reworded. "You look like you need help," he said in English this time. It sounded more like, "what the hell just happened and how did you get here all of a sudden?" than the actual statement. He was wearing a blue shirt, and had a rather large sword on his back. _What. The. Hell._ She stood up when he moved forward. She was ready to run. Still, his face was gentle and not tough or scary. He was clean shaven and young.

"Uhhhh…" Meghan said, as she observed her surroundings. Her heart beat madly. _What. The. Hell._ Her mind was running in a million different directions.

He had gone to her by then, noticing how confused and scared she looked. "Hey, what's your name?" He noted the dark, strange style of clothing she was wearing. Really, what _was_ she wearing?

When she didn't answer, and looked like she was about to sprint madly away, he said, "I'm Link. How did you get here?" She was scared. He took a step back. "Sorry, I don't mean to bother you."

"It's ok…" she said hesitantly. "I'm Meghan."

He was honestly shocked by her appearance, and thousands of theories started formulating in his mind. If she'd looked more dainty or graceful, he'd think she was some sort of fallen fairy. There had been magic emanating from where she sat, but it had disappeared. She had a strange look.

He did too. His skin looked like an actor's in a movie or TV show, pure and perfect. She felt the need to voice this observation, since her mind could not function normally. "Are you like, a TV or movie actor?"

"I am not an actor...what is 'TV?'"

"Um…" Really? Explain a TV? God damn it, she really did just land in the middle ages. She was glad this dude didn't smell, and he looked clean. "It's just a recording of people. It's just their picture, just their image, but they move around inside a box."

"Oh. A big…box?" He was a curious person, she could tell.

"No, a small box…"

"Are the people small?"

Why was this complete stranger so fascinated by TVs? "No, they're...normal...sized."

"It's magic?"

"Um, not magic."

"Not magic then?" he asked with his eyebrows raised, trying to figure out what she could possibly be describing. It was his duty to learn as much as he could, because he never knew what could aid him in his quest.

"We…don't use magic. Um, as least uh, where I'm from, we don't have magic."

"Oh, well many people here can't use magic either. Don't worry." They were silent for a second, thinking of what to say. "So then how did you get here?" he asked for the third time.

"I don't know." She felt weak. She wanted to sit back down. She looked around the darkening place she was in. It was a huge field. Nothing but trees and grass.

"Oh. So…then do you know _why_ you're here?" _Come on, give me some information._

"Nope." She shrugged, pursing her lips. She looked around nervously again.

What was she supposed to do? She had no idea where she was. She didn't feel like asking him questions, but then she didn't know anyone else to ask or how to get to anyone. But he kinda seemed trustworthy. In this big empty field.

"So…this…what is this place?"

"This place? This is Hyrule Field." He looked at her with concern. She really had no clue. "What will you do now?"

She had been looking about, but she turned back to him. "I…oh god, where am I?"

"Hyrule," he said again.

"Hyrule," she repeated incredulously. "What country is Hyrule in?"

"Hyrule is a country," he answered. He put his hands on his hips.

"OK, what _continent_ is it on?"_ Please give me something._

"Continent? OK?"

She sighed. "Never mind."

"Sorry, I wish I could help. Where did you come from?"

"Um…New York? America? Earth?"

He stared a little blankly at her. "Sorry, I'm not sure where that is either."

All her hope just whooshed away. She felt like crying. She was about to start crying. Oh crap, she was crying.

"Uh, don't cry please!" he said, raising his hands. She turned away from him, wiping her face with her bare arm. She was wearing just a black tank top with pants. He thought she must be cold. "Hey, it's a little cold here and it's getting dark. Why don't you head to somewhere to stay for the night?"

"Oh…I don't have…" o damn tears. ;_;

"What?" he asked after she faded into tearful mumbling. She looked miserable.

"Well, is there like an inn or something? But I don't have money…"

"Yeah, there is one in Kakariko, but you can stay with one of my friends, maybe? Or my house. My house is very small, sorry, but I won't be there, I promise! Don't worry about money."

"Then where do _you_ sleep?"

"I don't…sleep much." He was turning red.

"I can't. I have to leave. You guys don't have…anything, do you? Do you have like, a giant map of the world? Maybe you've never heard of my country, but I'm sure someone else has."

"Uh…I don't know about that." He looked sad for a second. "Someone might have known or had a map, but our country isn't…very well right now."

"Oh...really?"

He looked conflicted for a second, then said, "It's a long explanation. Really, it's not even safe to be out here."

"OK…well, I don't know. I think this is a dream. I don't know how to, uh, navigate getting out of here," she said, looking into his sincere face.

He was just thankful for the excuse to shirk the Water Temple. Too many things had been going on in his head. It wasn't healthy. He needed a break, but his conscience wouldn't let him do _nothing_. At least here he was helping someone. A very confusing someone.

"So…"

Meghan nodded, awwwwwwkkwarrdd.

"Hmmm…if you would like, I could pay for you to stay at the inn—"

"Uh! No! That's OK! Maybe I'll stay here. It's nice out. It's not cold at all." Lie.

"Yes, it is! We'll find a way for you to get home. I'm not sure where to start, but I'll help you. I have a friend who lives in the forest and she'd be very glad to help you, as well."

_OK, he has a friend in the forest. That's not creepy at all. Nope._

"Oh…that's…OK. I don't want to bother you guys." You creepers. "You could just point out the nearest city...town..."

"Why not? Oh! All those stories about getting lost in the Lost Woods are just myths. It's very hard to get lost." He took out the weird flute thing again as he spoke. He played a song. Meghan just stared at him. _OK, so in Hyrule do they often just break out into song? _It was now confirmed: this was a dream.

"Hello?" came a voice, reverberating in the air around them. A tiny fairy flew from Link's tunic. Meghan gasped, seeing the tiny, glowing girl. It was so cute! Wait, _what_? Was it a pixie or something? And where was that voice coming from? Sounded like a phone.

"Hi, Saria. I…um, found a girl. In Hyrule Field, and she needs somewhere to stay. She doesn't know how to get home."

"You found a girl, Link? What kind of girl? She can stay at my house. I don't mind, if that's what you're hinting at. I'll be there soon."

"No! Wait! It's OK. I don't need to," Meghan said hesitantly.

"She doesn't mind," Link said to Meghan.

"I don't mind. Oh, when you said girl, I was thinking someone younger! She sounds your age, Link!"

He just kinda laughed. They "hung up." At that point, Meghan was _done_ freaking out over whatever was going on. Just _done_. But what did she mean by "your age?" How old _was_ that girl? Holy _crap_, this guy was a _bonafide_ _creeper_!

…p…e…d…o…p…h…i…l…e…?

In the forest.

Yeah.

"So, do you want to go? Saria is very nice."

Follow random stranger? OK, sure, why not?

"Actually, it's a bit far. It would be faster by horse. Epona could take us."

"Us?"

"Yes, she is quite strong."

Ride on horse with random stranger? _Not_ OK. Was there something _wrong_ with him?

"Let's just walk," she said hesitantly.

So Link took Epona by her reins and told Meghan to follow him. They walked to the entrance of the Kokiri forest. He seemed content with the silence, but it was a little awkward for her.

"It _is_ cold," Meghan said finally. She was wearing only a tank top, with the word ETERNAL written on the back. She had on a pair of dark jeans. She wrapped her hands around her arms, rubbing them.


	8. Remix: History: Part Two

"Sorry, I am not great with talking to people." Then he wondered what he caused him to say that.

She laughed. "Me neither, it's OK."

"I'm sorry, you keep saying 'OK.' What is 'OK?'"

"It means, like...all right. Or fine."

"Oh, I see. Sorry for having to ask."

"No biggie."

"Now everything you say confuses me. I hope you don't mind me asking…what is a 'Big E?'"

"No…biggie is like…no big problem. It's an abbreviation for that, I uh...think. A saying."

"A saying," he repeated.

Then she had a thought. "What are my parents going to do? How will I explain to them when I get back where I was? I think this is a dream. It really can't be real, you know? I don't even know where this is."

He looked away. "I have had a few crazy dreams myself, I promise, but this does not seem to be one of them." Unless this whole experience, the being an adult thing, was a dream. Because he hadn't slept in goddesses only know how long.

"But, they won't believe me, either way."

"Shouldn't you being gone explain enough to them?"

"They might not understand."

He laughed. Not only did she say weird things, but her accent was different too. "Oh." By that point, they were at the entrance of the Kokiri Forest. "Epona, stay here. I'll be back." Meghan followed a bit behind him. They walked across the bridge, their footsteps echoing in the enclosed area. She looked around, amazed by the area. There were trees and green everywhere, it was such a beautiful view of perfect nature. It looked undisturbed, except for the bridge. They stepped into the forest, through what seemed like a giant fallen tree, hollowed out to make an entryway.

Oh, so this was the forest. Not really exactly what she'd been picturing (she'd had some beaten up tent and logs around a campfire pictured in her head).

At night, the forest was lit by tiny candles. The moon reflected in the stream flowing through the area. There were many tiny houses that also looked like hollowed out trees. The doors were tiny. She wondered how he fit in here. It looked like a bunch of children's houses.

"Everything's so tiny…" she said. "You live here?"

"This is where I've lived my entire life. Well, most of it. The parts I remember."

"The parts you remember?" She wasn't sure if she should be asking him these questions.

"Yes…that also requires a long explanation." He was silent then. It didn't seem like he didn't want to answer, just maybe that he didn't think he should.

Meghan shrugged. She didn't even know what to think. She was just going along with this. She was in shock. But maybe he wasn't a pedophile. Maybe he was a child in a teenager's body. What a comforting thought (not). They were at Saria's house. She was already inside.

"Hello, Saria," Link greeted as they entered her tiny home, ducking to fit through the doorway.

"Hi, Link. How have you been?"

Before Meghan stood a tiny child with the most unnatural hair color. Meghan was amazed by it. It was the color of leaves, like they were growing from her scalp. She had tiny, pointed ears and a cute green outfit. Her voice was peppy and childlike, but there was a hidden maturity about her.

"I'm fine. This is...Meghan."

"H-Hello…" Meghan said.

"Don't be shy. Come on in! Oh, you must be cold! You're wearing very little. But I'm afraid none of my clothes would fit you…you are a great deal taller than me." Meghan figured that she was at least a foot taller than Saria. Which made sense. Because this was a child.

"I'll find her some warmer clothes."

"Ah! No, that's OK. I mean, you don't need to."

"It's not a problem."

But Meghan wasn't about to parade around in a green shirt, or worse…pink! She would rather be cold than lose her image. She never wore real colors. She wore black. And white. But that was it. It was some strange, self confidence thing. She'd lose it if she was wearing another color.

"I'll go myself. Right now! I mean, I just realized that you guys know nothing about me and you probably shouldn't trust me. I appreciate your kindness, but suddenly I'm getting a little hysterical because I don't know what I'm doing here. So you can't trust me. I should go."

They looked at her for a second. She inched back towards the door.

Then Link laughed. "Please, avoid the niceties. You are clearly lost."

"I would know. I'm a sage. I know the nature of things."

"Well, then, uh, you wouldn't like to hear about the sort of clothes I wear." _Maybe they'll think I'm evillllll then, muahaha._

"Why does that have to do with this?"

"Well…I've worn nothing but black for nearly two years." As though that would scare them off!

"Contrarily, your pants are intriguingly blue," Saria noted. She was confused. Perhaps Meghan had a different word for blue, but her shirt was black. So she wasn't sure which one _was_ black.

"They're jeans. They…uh, don't count..."

"Well, black…around here…some people may think you're in mourning, wearing black. And wearing the blue that is also black," Saria informed. "Are you in mourning?"

"Saria, you shouldn't ask her such personal questions. Don't worry about it. There must be a reason. I'm so sorry…it must be difficult for you. I'll go right now."

A reason? Yes, she was sure people like her had a reason. Black was mourning. So what did they mourn? The death of humanity, the free spirit, joy, life? The worthlessness of a life?

"No, please! That's OK, I'm fine. At least wait until morning? Really, don't go. And thank you. Thanks for everything you're doing for me."

It was still a dream. Might as well be nice to these figments of her imagination?

"You're welcome," said Link.

"It's what we do!" Saria said. "Now, I think it is time for sleep. Link, you run off now."

"Yes…I'll see you tomorrow?"

Saria nodded emphatically. His gaze shifted to Meghan's face, and she nodded slightly, then allowed him a tiny smile. He smiled back.

"We'll get you home, don't worry."

"Thanks..."

He nodded, then turned and left.

"Well, let's see. I'll make you a bed." Saria took many extra blankets and folded them neatly on the floor, making a cushy bed just long enough for Meghan.

"Here you go." The bed looked quite comfortable, and she had to admit she was tired. After what just happened, she thought she could sleep anywhere. Maybe, she thought, sleeping would undo this dream thing. It wasn't exactly going badly, but there could be no way this was real.

She sat down on the blanket. Saria removed her headband, and then sat down herself. Saria asked her a few questions, like where she was from and what she was doing here. Meghan had answers for a few, and not a clue how to answer others.

"Thank you, Saria."

"You're welcome. I hope you'll sleep well."

She blew out her candles. Saria lay down, her tiny frame a shadow against the window. Meghan sat up silently, looking out the window. In less than an hour, her life had flipped upside down.

She wanted to go somewhere. She couldn't just sit and wait. She thought of Saria, sleeping, and had to thank her somehow, for the kind intentions. She didn't want to wake her though. She doubted Saria would let her go. She searched the room for a piece of paper and a pencil. She found some paper on the desk and took a piece, scrawling a note in her chicken scratch.

_Dear Saria and Link,_

_ I cannot stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go._

_ I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I will be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one has ever shown me before._

_Sincerely,_

_ Meghan Black_

She thought the letter over. She considered writing a new one. Then she considered not leaving one at all.

She went to the bed and picked up all the blankets. She folded them neatly and silently, and put them where she had seen Saria take them from. She left the letter folded on the table. When she was done, the only thing different about Saria's house was the letter on the table, labeled, "To Link and Saria." She took one last look, and then slipped out into the cold night.

"_Bye-bye_," she whispered as she started to leave the Kokiri forest. She was walking towards the exit, when she saw him. Link was walking towards her, coming from the entrance/exit.

She gasped, and then ran behind Saria's house. She carefully went up the spiral ramp to the top, where she hoped he wouldn't look.

She went over to the other side of the forest and hid behind what she didn't know was Mido's house as he walked past. Link seemed to be carrying something. She went behind the house, and climbed that little wall thing. It was hard because the thing was a little taller than her. She put her hands on top of it, and then jumped. She swung a leg over, struggling up. She climbed the wall of vines with immense difficulty, her hands turning red and achy, too weak to hold her pudgy and clumsy body.

She ran to the entrance of the Lost Woods, hoping she could find her way back out to the field from here. There were a lot of paths she could take…and she found herself growing quite lost. She started freaking out. Which way to go? She'd never get out! Ugh, she shouldn't have left! She'd die here in this forest.

But then, she happened to come across the entrance to Goron City, and went through, since it was the only different looking direction she could find. She found herself in strange place, several stories high, made of rock. There were doors to rooms around the giant, circular central space.

When she saw her first Goron, however, she had no idea what to think. _What are those, rocks?_

She walked past their rolled up bodies. They were sleeping peacefully. But one was not so sleeping. "Who are you?" He sat up and stared at her. She stumbled, nearly falling backward, her arms outstretched before her. She stared back at him. He didn't seem harmful…

"I'm Meghan." A rock…creature? He was almost…cute.

"You're not Hylian…Are you a Gerudo? You have ears like _him_!"

"No! I'm not, eh, Gerudo! I'm…human, I think." Well, maybe "Gerudo" was their term for human...?

"What is 'human?'"

"I don't come from around here. I come from Earth."

"What's that?"

"I don't think it's in this…uh, dimension. Do you know where the, uh, field is?"

"Yes, I do. Do _you_ know where the field is?"

"No, that's why I'm asking you…"

"To get there you go down the mountain."

"Oh. OK, I'll go now…which way?" She turned to look, taking a few steps.

"Wait! I have questions!" He started to chase her.

"Ah, OK?" She stopped.

"Can you roll down the mountain?" he asked with a smile.

"No…?" she said. _What_?

"Let's race down!"

"No! I can't."

"Ready?"

"No! Stop!"

He pushed her forward, hard, and she fell. He turned himself into a boulder-like ball and started rolling down the mountain. He was soon out of sight. She wiped off her hands, which had gathered little pebbles that stuck into her skin (but lucky she didn't get scraped), then carefully descended the mountain, the terrain more rocky than she hoped it would be. There were rocks jutting out in some places that she nearly tripped over. She kept her hand on the mountain wall for support. Luckily this seemed to be a sort of path, and eventually she reached the end of it. She found herself in what seemed to be a small town that was quiet in the night. Small lanterns at the front of houses and shops lit her way as she searched the town, for something. She didn't know what.

She soon decided that if she didn't know how to get home, she couldn't impose upon people to stay in their homes. She walked around the town until she found what she was looking for. It was called "Kakariko Inn" and the sign said it was fourty rupees a night. Now all she needed was money…

If only she knew how to get some.

* * *

Saria knew the girl was going to leave. That was the only reason Saria stayed in her own home tonight. Then the trees told her she had gotten lost in the forest. The blankets she had made a bed from were neatly folded and placed back where they had been. The letter was on her small table and was labeled "To Link and Saria." The note was ridiculous. Meghan made it sound like she'd just disappear and never be seen again, but from her story, it didn't exactly sound like she'd just _find_ a way home.

Saria actually had a bit of trouble reading it, because it wasn't the language that she was used to reading. Kokiri children used Hylian as their main language. Afraid that she had misinterpreted it, she ran outside to find Link.

She ran to his house and looked up to see him.

"Link!" she called, hoping he was there. She heard Ocarina music flowing from the house, and she knew it was him. "Link!" she called, even louder. The music stopped, and he walked outside. He jumped from halfway down the ladder.

"What is it, Saria?"

"Look!" She showed him the letter that Meghan had left for them. He held it close to his face and read it carefully

_Dear Saria and Link,_

_ I cannot stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go._

_ I don't know where I'm going, but I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I will be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one has ever shown me before._

_Sincerely,_

_ Meghan Black_

"Saria, I don't think there's a way back."

"How do you know that?"

"When she came, I felt like the world was opening. Suddenly there was so much power, like I've never felt before. Then it all disappeared, and it left forcefully. Like anger. I don't know how we would gather so much power again. We would need any power required to send her back to defeat Ganondorf."

"So you think she's going to stay here?"

"Yes…it was so powerful, I think it was…or maybe I was imagining it. I don't know. Saria, there was something strange about her coming here."

"Well, then we must find her. We can't just leave her to fend for herself here. She has no way of protecting herself. She doesn't know anything about Hyrule. And with Ganondorf not too far...goddesses, Link, she doesn't know, does she? Who knows what Ganondorf could do? Link, why is she here?" They both pondered the possibility that the girl's appearance had to do with Ganondorf or the current state of Hyrule.

"I don't know, Saria."

"We must find her and tell her what we think, and see if she can't remember what she is supposed to do here. There must be a reason for her being here. But she needs is someone to protect her, since she obviously does not remember why she's here." Saria stared intently at Link. He looked back at her.

"What? Her memory doesn't seem impaired." He stared, slowly realizing what she had just said. "Me?"

"I can't think of anyone else. This could be important."

"But…I don't know, if she's so important, maybe she should stay with you sages."

"But she could also be a minion of Ganondorf's, meant to take advantage of our kindness!" Saria said suddenly, throwing her index finger into the air with this idea. "She means no harm, but she could be working against her will!"

Saria's speculation shocked him. He already knew that was certainly not true. Why would she leave them, then? If she was meant to cause them harm, she wouldn't have been so flightly. "Somehow, I do not believe that."

"I hope it is not true. We must be careful, though. Does she know how to protect herself? It didn't seem like it…" She didn't look like the most physically capable person, but Saria didn't want to say this aloud.

"We can...uh...get the Kokiri sword…I'm sure she could handle it." Or maybe it would be best to leave her safely in Kakariko. But she had no one, no family to watch over her.

"All right, I'll crawl in and retrieve it. I'll be back very soon." Saria ran off. Before she went to the sword's resting place, she took a message to the trees.

_Watch her. Let me know what she is up to. Tell me of her intentions. And protect her._


	9. Remix: History: Part Three

Meghan was wandering around the tiny, empty village. It had grown late, so it made sense that no one was around. Should she be scared? Probably, but she had literally nothing on her but her clothes. Hopefully no one would try to mug her for that. Or maybe she didn't have to worry about _that_.

Maybe she could just go sit in the inn. She felt tired, especially tired of walking around. She went back and found it again. But she felt nervous. What the people inside were not nice? What if it wasn't even open? Her hand reached to the door knob, but she pulled it back. Link had said there were problems with this country. She didn't know what kind.

So she wandered again. Soon, she found stairs leading to…well, she couldn't see where but they seemed like public stairs. So she descended them, and found herself in what she thought was Hyrule field again.

She was absolutely confused about how she got to that point, but again, she just couldn't get her mind to worry about these things at the time. She started walking in the darkness, barely seeing the ground before her feet. She totally had no idea where she was going, though. She just kept walking.

It took a bit before she noticed some strange dark clouds in the distance, in the direction she was walking. There was a rather tall building in the distance. It kinda looked like a castle, she thought. She wouldn't doubt it. This was pretty medieval, this whole place. There was a moat, and a broken drawbridge. It looked torn apart around here. She wondered what had happened.

She took a small detour, and soon found herself near a small tree. She gave the tree a hug, like the weirdo she was, but the tree's hug was better than nothing. It almost seemed to be comforting her.

"_How did I get here? Why me?_" she whispered. She started crying. She just sat there, next to a tree in the middle of Hyrule field, crying. She felt sorry, but there was no point in feeling so sorry for herself. She had to figure this weird dream out. "I can do this."

_Maybe_, her mind thought.

She thought of every possible way she could to get home. Did she have to sleep, like she'd thought before? Did she have to wake herself? Did she have to die? Spin around three times with her finger on her nose? There were so many things she thought of, and she had no idea which was the answer. She just needed a _clue_.

She looked back to the broken draw bridge, really wondering what was in there. A torn down castle? Maybe if it was abandoned, she could stay somewhere, unnoticed. The place certainly looked torn down and abandoned from the outside. So she ran to the bridge, hopped over it, and found herself in a haunted nightmare.

_What the hell are those…are those…zombies?_

There were rotting corpses. They were crouching, walking around slowly, fingering the dirt on the ground, rolling their empty heads back and forth. They had no eyes, no teeth, no noses, no hair. They were just walking, rotting brown corpses.

"Oh…crap…"

Maybe this was what Link had been talking about.

Oh, hell. What _was_ this place? Zombie apocalypse?

A zombie that was walking aimlessly around turned to face her. Since it had no eyes, she had no idea whether it saw her or not. She froze, her breathing shallow, hoping it wouldn't notice her. It took a slow step toward her. She stared with wide eyes for a moment.

Then it_ screamed._

She emitted a tiny, scared sound, but found herself so petrified she couldn't move a muscle. She willed herself to go, but she was so afraid of the monster coming toward her. Its scream seemed to alert the other monsters as well, and they turned to see her.

_Come on, body! Move it!_ she screamed to herself. It was getting closer…

"Uh…shoo!"

She broke from her scared, frozen state. "Oh, great…don't scream again…"

She ran as fast as she could, but in the wrong direction. She didn't care. She hadn't time to think. She wanted to believe that the monsters weren't following her. She ran towards a tall building to the right. It looked like a cathedral, tall and majestic. There were blocks of stone that looked like tombstones beside it. She was sure this was a church. It had to be safe. She ran into the Temple, making sure the heavy door was closed behind her. It hadn't seemed like they were following her.

Immediately upon her entrance, she felt calmer and relaxed. She took a few steps to a short platform, a large stone hexagon carved in elaborate detail. There was a triangle design in the center, and an engraved circular design within that. She sat down in the center to observe the details, wondering how long it took to make. For the first time, she realized how tired she was. She'd been all over Hyrule and had barely slept that night. _No reason to stand…_

Her eyes were becoming very heavy. She lay down on her side, her back to the entrance, finding it very hard to sit up anymore. She used her arm as a pillow, and the freezing cold floor was comforting. She could practically hear deep voices as she gently nodded off to sleep…


	10. Remix: History: Part Four

"Link, here it is," Saria said, holding out the sword to show him. "Now, we must find her! Let me ask the trees."

Saria ran to the trees surrounding the area. Her magic glowed around her body, and the trees seemed to almost move as she stared up at them.

"Link! The trees say she was in Hyrule Field, but she has now gone somewhere where there are no trees!"

He nodded. "Right, I'll go look."

"I'll keep an eye on everywhere else."

Link waved and ran to the forest entrance. Epona was still waiting around there. "Good girl," he said as he mounted. "Now, let's go! Places without trees. It could Gerudo Valley…or…well, I really hope she's not by Hyrule Castle Town."

He went on to Gerudo Valley, sure she was not around Lake Hylia, since there _were_ so many trees there.

He cantered into Gerudo Valley and crossed the split log serving as a bridge across the shallow water running below it. He came to the main part of the valley, using Epona to easily jump across the broken bridge. He led her into a gallop, and then she gathered her stride to make a long leap.

"Good girl," he praised. He cantered past the carpenters, or, the boss anyway. But then he thought, what if she had wondered into the Gerudo's Fortress and gotten caught? What would they do to her? He would have to persuade them into telling him if she was there. But how? And then he got an idea. He trotted quietly to the stairs leading up to their fortress. He dismounted, and sneaked up the stairs. The Gerudo both had their backs turned, so he waited at the top of the stairs. Then one turned.

"Freeze!" she commanded, running to him and putting her scimitar against his neck. "You think just because you're a man you can sneak past us? Ha!"

"Wait, I have a bargain to make."

"We have no need for anything. You should have thought about that before you came in here."

"Not for my own safety, but to ensure the safety of another."

"Another? We have no others here, except us Gerudos!" she lied, thinking of the carpenters.

"No, I need to know if there is a girl here. Not a Gerudo girl, though."

"Why would we tell you if there was?"

"I told you, I'll bargain for it. I give up my own freedom. In exchange to know if she's here." Though he was not sure if this would work. If his plan were to succeed, they would have to take him to the jail. He knew they would take him because he had been captured once before while wondering aimlessly.

"I told you there is no one here." He wasn't sure if he believed them. "OK, I held up my end of the bargain, now it's your turn. Get moving!" Another Gerudo came behind him and prodded him in the back with a sharp blade. He stumbled forward. They laughed at his mishap.

They led him through the fort, and he saw familiar rooms so he relaxed, knowing they were going to take him to the jail. These were obviously either very strong fighters, or very foolish ones because they had not even bothered to take away his weapons. If he wanted, he could have run away, or taken them on, but it was easier to go this way. They dropped him into the hole in the floor (or ceiling, depending upon which way one looks at it).

Instead of falling and hurting himself like he normally did, he jumped in before they could push him and landed in a crouched position. The Gerudo became suspicious as to why he sold his freedom and jumped in so willingly, ("All for a girl? Ha! Men aren't like that!" one of the Gerudo had said.) But their suspicions quickly passed. They yelled in at him, "Stay in there, you scum! The only man who can survive around here is the great Ganondorf!"

He winced at the title; whenever someone called Ganondorf 'great,' he always became angry.

"No time to waste." He took out his longshot and aimed it at the wood shade above the window, high up. Once he was up in the window, he took a deep breath and jumped. Not on to the ground, but on one of the many levels of the fortress just to the left. He waited and watched until the guards on the bottom had all turned so they couldn't see him, then jumped and ran back to Epona. He quickly mounted and galloped away.

"So she's not there. I hope…" If he couldn't find her elsewhere, he would go back and do a more thorough investigation. He jumped over the broken bridge, and then cantered out of the valley and desert.

"Next…Hyrule Castle Town…or what's left of it. I don't think she would go there…" he told Epona, speaking in Hylian. "Not my favorite place to go." Every time he went there, he could _feel_ the evil not to far away, and seeing the town, torn up and deserted the way it was, made him angry.

"She could have gotten into a lot of trouble by now…" Navi warned.

"I know. That's why I'm worried." Now, not only was she in danger, but the Water Sage wasn't saving itself. He had been out of the temple for a while, and he feared that the monsters would take it over again, by now.

He pushed Epona into a gallop, making her whinny. "Sorry, we need to hurry." As though she understood, Epona went faster without any more complaints. "Whoa! Not that fast!" But it was very rare that either of them got to go fast, so they stayed like that. He was almost enjoying himself…when he remembered…this was business. Strange.

Soon they arrived at the town. Epona slowed down near it, and became very afraid. She backed up, rolling her eyes.

"Whoa! Epona, it's all right." The sudden darkness had scared her. He dismounted carefully and stood in front of the horse to comfort her. She relaxed at his touch. "All right, you can leave now. Just come back when I call you. It shouldn't take long." He faced her towards the open field and gave her a slight nudge where her front leg met her body. She ran off, happy to get away. Link ran inside the Town.

As soon as he reached the main part of the town, he got that evil feeling emanating from each of the redeads. He had no time to bother with them, nor their piercing screams. He ran past them. He no longer feared them. Under normal circumstances, Link would have left, seeing that Meghan wasn't there, but he had this strange feeling.

"She's here. I just know it," he told Navi. He ran to the first place he thought of, the Temple of Time.

* * *

Meghan had been having a fitful rest. Her sleep was interrupted with dreams of death and despair…perhaps the influence of being so close to such a great evil.

The first dream she remembered was of a dark blade, meeting one that shone with light. Something was there…

The second was a girl crying. She couldn't see the face because when she walked up to it the dream changed…

The third was golden lights shining from a fountain, almost taking the forms of humans. They were talking to a white light.

"I am sorry for the trouble caused…let it be known that the gods will never quarrel with each other again."

_ "Yes, Human God. I, Nayru pledge to that."_

**"As do I, Din."**

_** "And I, Farore."**_

** "**I will take back the trouble caused for you…the girl…"

_**"I do not believe she caused any trouble. If we send her back, she will believe this only a dream, and perhaps that is best. Surely our hero shall be confused, though. What do you believe to be the best course of action?"**_

"It was foolish of me to send her to your world. I know her mind well and know that she would not hurt anyone. Her soul was calling to me when I was pompously angered your offer for help, and sending her was the first thing I thought I could do. I no longer hear her calling, but I know she despaired about my world. Your world is pure and had great heroes, while mine has none. Let her stay in a world that is to be saved. Perhaps she can return when my world has acquired heroes."

_ "Do not lose heart, Human God, it was foolish on all our parts. She will be happy here, I assure you. Let the mixture be diversification…a constant reminder of our united worlds."_

**"Yes, she will be happier here."**

_"Then the girl shall stay. Farore, goddess that knows mortal life better than any of us, what say you?"_

"_**She does not want to stay. Right now, she is scared. She would feel better if she returned to her own world. However, if she returns, she will continue to call for help. Here, her calls will cease. Here, she will find peace. Unfortunately, unless we tamper with her memories, this experience will only cause chaos."**_

"Fine. I shall allow her to stay, providing she does not show you or your inhabitants any trouble. Then, she _must_ leave. Thank you, Goddesses of Hyrule, Nayru, Din, and Farore…"

She did not understand any of this, except a part spoken by a male voice…deep, assuring. Everything else was a different language. But, the dream resumed to horror…

* * *

Sheik awoke quite suddenly.

"_The gods! They had a fight! How could they? They let a human here_!" she whispered, still in her disguise. Her voice was a bit deeper, her hair shorter and her eyes red, but she still had the occasional prophecy. Usually, she could tell if she was foreseeing good or bad events…but this one came unclear. She had to find this human…it could not stay around here, either way. _Humans…they had a bad reputation._ She stealthily left her camp, not waking Impa.

"_I'll be back_," she whispered before disappearing.

* * *

Link ran up the steps leading the Temple of Time. He slowly pushed the heavy front doors, his rushed attitude turning solemn.

As soon as he entered, he found her laid gently across the platform in front of him. She was still, but as he drew nearer, he could see her shaking. He kneeled beside her. Tears flowed unconsciously from her eyes, and her head glistened from sweat. Her eyes squeezed tight then relaxed every few seconds. She was lying on her side, her head propped on her arm, which was extended outward.

He gently touched her. Her arm was cold. He had to wake her, to get her to some warmth. She shuddered at his touch. He gently shook her. She stopped shuddering.

He shook her again. She was still for a second. Then her eyes slowly opened. Taking into focus what was before her, she shot up into a sitting position. Before he could react, she started to cry. She was once again shivering, on and off. He didn't know what to do; she was just crying…helplessly he tried to comfort her awkwardly.

"It's all right," he said, in Hylian, feeling awkward, having no idea how to comfort her. But the strange language made her even more upset and she sobbed even harder.

"I don't know what you're saying…I don't want to be here…bring me back home…"

"I…don't know how…I'm sorry…but we'll find out how." She coughed. "I will! But for now…you look sick." Her face seemed pale and she was covered with goose bumps. "Maybe you should come with me."

"I can't. I have to go see if I can get back the way I came." She wanted to stand, pushing away from him.

"No, you're shivering." He could still see some resistance in her. "Come on, I can't leave you here."

"OK," she said warily.

"Put this on." He just happened to have a tunic with him, something that looked comfortingly warm. She put it on. It smelled lovely, and was made of a nice, thick material. Even though it looked short-sleeved on him, the sleeves came down almost to her forearms, and it sagged baggily down her body, all the way to her knees. He pulled her up, so that they both stood in the center of the platform.

"Thanks." She felt sick while standing, and became dizzy as she stepped away from him. She stumbled a bit, walking awkwardly while trying to hide it. She unconsciously put her hand to her head.

"Meghan…are you all right?" he asked, calling her by her name for the first time. His voice was mid range, a tenor, neither very deep nor high pitched.

"Yeah…I'm fine…I think…oh, my head…" she put both of her hands to her head. She stopped walking.

"You don't look fine." He walked to her. "Let me help you."

"No, I'm fine. I can…" She took another unbalanced step. He took her arm and put it around his shoulder. He felt the iciness of her arm on his neck. He needed to get her to the forest. Saria could help her. She swayed and leaned on to him, losing her balance. He assisted her as they walked out into the night.

"Meghan, when we go into the town, don't be scared of the redeads. They're not real. We can't stop now."

"I'll try," she said halfheartedly, the dizziness getting to her.

"All right. Here we go." They went down the stairs, into the town. Meghan saw the redeads. "Can you walk faster?"

"I'll try…" He picked up his speed. Meghan did too, but not by much. And then…

"EEEEAAACCKKK!" a close-by redead screamed. Meghan froze. She pushed herself, but when she tried to move, her head felt like it had split open. The redead was close. Link, still afraid that the redead was an inhabitant of the old Hyrule Castle Town, hesitated to harm it. He grabbed Meghan, picking her up from the ground. Her still muscles became supple as she turned horizontal in his arms, and he ran out of the redead's vicinity. She protested, repeatedly telling him to put her down. He finally let her down when she was out of the Redead's grasp. She was embarrassed that he'd felt how heavy she was. He'd touched her body, her chubby waist…she gently pushed away from him and walked independently.

They walked to the collapsed bridge. He jumped over first. He extended his hand out to her. "Take my hand." She did, starting to feel like these people had to concept of personal space. She jumped lightly over, mostly held by his strong arm. She reached the other side and was balanced by him.

He looked up for a second, seeing a flash of something atop the tall wall surrounding the town. _Could it be? No, it can't…_

He took out his ocarina, calling his faithful horse to his side. He very gently helped Meghan to mount, and she relaxed as soon as she could sit still. He pulled himself up with her, making her uncomfortable. Again. "You're not going to fall off back there, are you?"

"No!" she said, sure she wasn't that broken.

"All right, then. Epona…" he said, preparing to go fast when…

"Uh...Link...can you go slow? I...uh..."

"That bad?"

"Yeah. I think I might lose my cookies…my head hurts, I'm dizzy…the list goes on."

"That's all right. We'll be there soon anyway." He pushed Epona into a slow canter. Had she not warned him, he would have gone into a gallop, perhaps putting too much strain on both Epona and Meghan. Why was he so _careless_ sometimes?

Meghan was pressed against the cold metal of Link's shield the entire way there. Despite what she'd assured him, she struggled to stay upright, trying not to lean forward on him. At one point, she remembered him reaching back to grab her arm, holding it against his waist.

He steered Epona on the quickest path back to the forest. As soon as they got there, Link dismounted and helped Meghan down, her face looking paler than before.

"Uhhh…" she groaned, feeling worse now that she had to stand again. Link once again pulled her arm around his shoulder and half carried her inside the forest. He took her to the area where his and Saria's house were located. Saria saw them from her doorway and ran outside to help.

"Link! What happened?"

"She's sick, and she needs to lie down."

"Take her into my house, hurry! Put her on my bed!" Link did as he was told.

"The poor girl! Link, hurry! Get me those blankets in the corner." He got two of the blankets. Saria felt Meghan's head. She put both the blankets on Meghan as she lay down. Meghan felt better now that she was lying down, but she was still freezing and her head still hurt a bit. She fell asleep in a short time. Saria stayed at her side, occasionally tucking the blanket in when she turned. Link also stayed. He sat there for a while. Finally Saria looked up.

"So, where did you find her?" she asked in Hylian.

"At the Temple of Time."

"No wonder she's so cold…do you know why she was there?"

"She was sleeping. I have no idea how she ended up there. She didn't look good from the moment I saw her…she was shivering and looked really uncomfortable. She didn't look good at all…"

"You did the right thing to bring her here."

"I had hoped so."

"Too bad you didn't find her earlier. Where did you look?"

"I went to Gerudo Valley first…I thought that was the place with the least trees. But she wasn't there."

They sat in silence for a while. Then Saria moved and put her hand on Meghan's head.

"At least she is warm now."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She has a fever now."

"A fever? But…"

"Don't worry, she's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Sages don't lie." She winked. "You know, you don't have to stay here. We'll be fine here."

"But I want to."

"No, it's all right. Go, I'm sure you have things to do."

He sighed. "I'll come back later."

"Bye!"

"Bye."

He left Saria, and went outside the forest. For a while, he thought he would go back to the Water Temple, to finish it off, that's all he had left to do. But he realized that he wasn't in the correct mindset to do that. He would surely mess up, and then where would Hyrule be? Better to have a procrastinating hero than a deceased one. No, he was too distracted with his thoughts. He unconsciously pulled out his ocarina while thinking and called Epona to his side. She came within seconds and he mounted, just realizing what he had done.

He let the reins relax, surprising Epona. She whinnied, as if asking what he was doing. "Epona, just go wherever. I'm lost right now. I cannot guide you." And so Epona went, galloping across the field. And he just sat, thinking things.

_ Who is this girl? What if she can't get home? And what if she does? What do I feel? Do I feel anything anymore? These days, I have to be so tough, and I have to be the savior of Hyrule, yet did I have a choice? But of course I want to help…I want to do everything I can. I don't think this was supposed to happen._

"Epona, stop. Whoa, girl." They were halfway across the field. She stopped, and he dismounted. "Don't ask me what I'm doing, I have no idea."

He pulled out the ocarina, thought for a second, and then played Zelda's Lullaby. The soft tune relaxed him for a bit, letting him think clearly.

"All right, now what do I do? Any suggestions, Epona?" Epona nickered and tossed her head to the sides. He put his arms on her, leaning against her. "That's all right. I think I got it now. I think I know what to do! I think…all right, we need to go back! It's getting light now." So, he mounted once again, and this time actually steered Epona. He brought her back to the forest.

"This time, I have no idea when I'll be back." He entered the forest, ocarina in hand. He entered Saria's house quietly.

"Back so soon? I thought you were going to come back _later_, not in half an hour!"

"Yeah, I know but I got this idea. If Zelda's Lullaby can help me, then why won't it work on Meghan?"

"Good idea! Let me play with you." Saria got her own ocarina. Link kneeled down near the bed and started playing the song. Saria came in, making the song a round. Then, the second time Saria played a relaxing harmony to it, making the song even more beautiful. They both stopped after about five repetitions of the song. Both of them felt relaxed, and when they looked at Meghan she no longer looked strained, but relaxed and having a good rest.

"Good. I'll be back…I promise."

"All right see you later."

"Oh, and Saria, I…have something for her at my house. Um, I'll…bring it…" He left for a few minutes, and then returned with a bundle of something.

"Yeah…I've got to go." He dumped it into Saria's hand. "Bye!" He hurriedly ran out the door. Saria opened it.

"Oh," she said, smiling when she looked inside. "All right, bye." Saria sat back down, finding something to read.

* * *

Sheik had been searching Hyrule. Cheating and using some of her magic, she tracked down the human. It was around…her old castle.

"What is the human doing there?" she asked herself. She teleported to the old town. She climbed up the wall separating the town from Hyrule Field, where the old drawbridge used to be. From her position, she saw two people coming from the Temple. She couldn't see who. She soon could tell one of them was Link…not surprising. But the other, she had never seen in her life. She noticed the ears. They looked like a Gerudo's ears…but the rest of the characteristics were completely different. Instead of bright, red hair and a long nose, she had dark hair and a round, short nose. _This must be the human! Is this what they look like? Strange. _

Now they were in the town. Then she heard it, a faint "EAAACCKKKK!" The girl froze, startling Link as he was running past them while helping her. He pulled her hand, but she wouldn't budge, so he lifted her from the ground. They ran closer to Sheik so she drew her weapons—twin elbow blades. The girl was lagging behind Link, and Sheik realized she was very weak. She could tell from the way she held herself, drooping and not standing straight and leaning mostly on him. She realized that this girl was in no condition to harm Hyrule, or attempt to. She didn't want to pick on a helpless girl, and Link would most likely defend her. She sheathed her weapons in her sheaths, which were camouflaged to match her outfit using magic. They passed under her. He helped the girl jump over the water. She stumbled on the other side. He looked up for a second. Sheik backed up, so Link seemed to not see her, and they walked away.

He called Epona, and they mounted. She said something to him, and he said something back. Then they went.

Sheik jumped down, landing in a crouched position. As soon as they were far, Sheik followed them. She could run quickly and quietly. She followed them all the way to the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. Once she entered that area, she climbed the tree that Kaepora Gaebora once greeted Link, seven long years ago. She watched silently as they dismounted and entered the forest.

As soon as they entered the forest, Sheik jumped down quietly. She waited a few seconds to be sure they weren't coming back out. Then she stealthily ran inside. Once in the forest, she jumped on top of one of the houses. She watched as they went inside…Saria's house? Now _Saria_ was aiding the human? She would have to keep a close eye on the girl…she was either very manipulative…or…harmless. A little while later, Link exited the house alone. He ran to the exit of the forest and disappeared. Sheik jumped down and followed. When she reached Hyrule field, he was already galloping away on Epona. She ran a bit behind him. He stopped about halfway through the field. She took a wide turn and hid behind the short stone wall in the middle of the field. He dismounted, looking very tired and confused. He hesitated for a moment and then took out the Ocarina of Time, then played her song, her lullaby.

He spoke to the horse gently, softly. Zelda could see that his steed was fond of him. He mounted her once again, and steered Epona back to the forest. She followed him once again. A minute later, she heard her song again. This time, it was two ocarinas. One with a rich, deep sound and one with a light, bouncy sound. Each was beautiful. They played as a round, then with harmony, and then stopped. Then Link exited, and went to his house. She backed up behind another house, where he couldn't see her. She heard him climbing the ladder (to which he got a MOOOOOO!).

"Remind me to move this cow somewhere else."

Sheik left, deciding to leave the interrogation for another day. She didn't know what to think of Link running about to help the girl. She didn't know if any of this was good or bad.

* * *

Saria waited, reading her book. She sat faithfully by the girl's side. She leaned back against the wall of her house and closed her eyes just for a second…

"Saria, wake up." Link was there, gently waking her. "You can go rest, I'll watch her."

"What? Oh! I fell asleep! Oh, is she all right? How could I?"

"It's fine. She's fine, Saria."

"Oh, good. Are you sure you can watch her? I can do it."

"Yes, I'm fine with it."

"All right, I'll be back." She exited the house. Once outside, she turned herself into the orb of light which the Sages used to travel. One of the first things she learned she could do when she learned she was one. She returned to the Sacred Realm, the Chamber of the Sages.

"Meghan…" Link said. Truthfully, he had no idea what to do. He just sat by her side. He got bored. He was tempted to wake her, to ask her questions, but he knew she needed to sleep. He leaned closer to examine her face. He studied her—she was definitely different. _She's from…Nearth? Wait, it was Earth! That must mean she's Earthian. Or something._

"_Is that it_?" he whispered to her, as though she could hear him. "_Are you Earthian?_"

Her features were different than any other life form in Hyrule. Her nose was shorter than his, or anybody else's for that matter. Her ears were like the Gerudos, but not quite so big. She was a bit taller than an average Hylian girl at, but still shorter than him.

Her long, dark brown hair seemed almost a black color, but it wasn't. It was sprawled around her head. She looked younger than him, but not by much. Her difference were so intriguing that it took him a while to realize that the way her long eyelashes framed her eyes, and how her lips curved out gently, and how her cheekbones accented her face made her…pretty.

Appalled by his own thoughts, he sat back, away from her, turning red in the cheeks. Why would he even think about that? What kind of person was he? She was a helpless young girl. In a huff, he blamed his weird thoughts on his recent...well, growth. A month ago (which was actually seven years ago), he would never have had such a thought. He found a book on Saria's table, next to the Kokiri Sword. He picked the sword up, just for old time's sake, and realized just how light it was, at least compared to the Master Sword. He replaced it in the sheath, and then took the book. It was entitled _Hyrule at a Glance_. He had heard of it, but he never had time to read. It was a history of Hyrule, but put into a plot, like an adventure. It was even quite old, and he was surprised that Saria had a copy. Many books, especially ones like this, had been destroyed with Ganon's reign. This copy was old and beaten on the outside, though the words were clear inside.

He got entangled in the interesting plot of the book, not even realizing how long he had been reading. Navi had fallen asleep on the pillow by Meghan's head. He was probably about halfway through the book, but it was already late morning. He wouldn't have much time to read it any other time. He put the book down. He looked over toward Meghan. She was lying on her side with her face to him.

"_You like to sleep, don't you?" _he whispered. A few seconds later, Saria returned.

"Hi!"

"Hi. I came to relieve you of Meghan-watching duty," Saria joked.

"What? Oh, I don't mind. I was reading your book."

Then Meghan moved. They went to her side as she blinked, opening her eyes.

"Uhhh…?" Meghan asked as she sat up. Saria walked over to her. She looked at the two strange people in the room. Embarrassed, she turned away and rubbed her face.

"You got very sick," Saria said softly.

"You don't remember?" Link asked.

"Yeah, I do now…" she moved to get up. "I should go now…" She stood up and stretched. "I feel fine now, really. Thank you guys, I'm sorry to steal your bed." She noticed how bright it was outside. "Oh, crap, I must have slept for a long time…sorry!"

"Not too long. Zelda's Lullaby healed you," Saria informed her, motioning for her to sit back down.

"Oh…what is that?" She stood, still.

Saria and Link looked at one another. "Maybe we should tell you about Hyrule," Link said. Meghan couldn't help but be curious, so she didn't try to leave just yet.

"Zelda is our princess, the crown princess of Hyrule, and she is a special girl, with a kind heart and wisdom beyond her years. But she is in hiding now. No one has seen her for years, because a very evil man has taken control of our country," Saria told her.

"You saw the state of the castle and Castle Town. He has destroyed that town…those people. He turned them into those monsters," Link said, though he did not know that the redeads were not actually Hylian citizens. Meghan could see the pain in his face. He didn't like any of this.

"Should we continue telling her?" Saria asked in Hylian, looking up at Link. He shrugged and told her that they might as well, and it might stop her from wandering around.

"He has a terrible power, and he was after something even more powerful when Link was younger. The power of the Goddesses, actually, something called the Triforce. He is very powerful. Our whole country has been affected by this. People have been killed, and there are monsters everywhere. Civilizations are destroyed. It's…" She shook her head. "It's terrible."

"Oh…" What was she supposed to say? She felt that "I'm sorry" wouldn't really do much. She said it anyway. "I'm sorry…I wish it wasn't so terrible."

"But _Link_ here is on his way to saving it!" Saria nudged him.

"Saria!" he said, growing red. "It's…everyone's helping, really. I'm just...eh..."

"Relax, hero," she said to him with a smile. She turned back to Meghan. "It's his destiny. I always knew there was something special with him. The Great Deku Tree, too. We've been friends since we were kids."

"Oh," Meghan said, nodding. What, though, did she mean by saving it? Was he a super hero? Haha cool. She guessed that sword had something to do with it all.

"That's the story," Saria said with a sigh. "Now you know."

"I guess that means I should look for a way to get home soon." Didn't really sound so safe here...

"No," Link said gently from where he was conveniently standing in front of the door. "As I've said, it's dangerous outside the forest. And I think you should rest a bit longer, please."

"I…I'll be fine. I feel fine, honestly." She felt that seeing the monsters she'd seen here in Hyrule hadn't even been scary. It was more like she was watching them from in front of a movie screen. She didn't feel like they could hurt her because they didn't seem real.

"I'm afraid that no one else can help you more than we can. It's dangerous out there. Please, stay with us."

Meghan felt the tears welling in her eyes. "Listen, I have a plan. I'm going to stay in, uh, Kakariko. I'll find some money for the Inn. You can still help me if you really want to."

"I want you to stay here, Meghan, as my guest!" Saria squeaked.

"But…I…want…to…go…" she said through clenched teeth. She felt so embarrassed and awkward here. "I…don't want to take advantage of you."

"You have to stay with us, it's crazy out there," Link said, his _over-caring_ showing. "Kakariko is fairly safe, but I don't trust every person."

"I'll be fine. My world is not exactly super safe either. I don't know why you think I come from fairy tale land. I can do some self defense." She laughed. "And part of me still believes this isn't real, so I'm not scared."

She remembered the dream she had in the Temple of Time, but refused to let herself believe that _that_ was real either. There was _no way_ she was staying here. Blah, her brain was just messed up.

"No, I'm afraid you're mistaken, Meghan," Link said. "I'm real. Saria's real. Even…Ganondorf is real, the evil that is here. It's all real, and you can _really_ get hurt. Meghan, you're here for a reason. I can't let you get hurt." He said the last part slowly and quietly. As much as he wished that it was Meghan's way with Ganondorf, he knew it wasn't true.

"I'm sorry guys, but I'm not special. I have no abilities and I have no purpose for being here. I swear, this is my dream. There's no other explanation."

She tried to move past Link. He didn't let her. Saria bit her lip. Meghan's stomach flipped. What was their reason for keeping her so tightly here? Maybe they really weren't what they said they were...

o damn. tyme 2 get hysterical. "You…sick people! Let me go!" she said, as she tried to get out the door. She raised her hand to push him, but he grabbed her hand as a reflex. "Let go!" she cried, struggling against his strong grip, but she soon realized that she couldn't get free. He was strong. He was _real_.

"What do you want from me?" she cried, sinking to the floor. He kneeled down, his face gentle, in fierce opposition to the strong grip on her hand.

"I don't want anything. I don't want to hurt you." He was shaking his head, his expression soft.

"Then why won't you let me go? Let _go_!" she tried to pull free again. He let go, looking her in the eyes. How could he have such innocent eyes, while he was so adamant about keeping her here? She couldn't get herself to think he would do harm, but at the same time all his actions seemed so suspicious. She didn't know him.

"Link," Saria said gently, "you're frightening her. She has not seen what has happened to our world. It must be difficult to believe."

Saria touched her arm, and helped Meghan up as Link stayed crouched, but he looked upset now.

"I'm sorry—" he started.

"I hate you," she spat quickly, her heart beating hard as she said the malicious words.

"Link, leave. You're not helping," Saria said in a surprisingly stern voice. Link stood and nodded slowly, leaving without a word. Meghan's declaration stung his heart. He didn't like to hear those words. _Hate_. It was so ugly.

"Bye, Link," Saria said. Meghan was quiet.

"Meghan, you _must_ know he would never hurt anyone. We are worried about why you are here. He only wants to add you to his rather _immense_ list of people to protect. Besides, you were just sick, and running out into the cold won't help you at all."

"I'm sorry," Meghan said, staring off to the side. For the first time, the possibility that this was real made sense to her. Tears dripped slowly down her face.

Saria's face was still gentle. "Link brought you clothes."

"Oh, god," she whispered, putting her head into her hands. "I…he thinks I hate him now. I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to be so horrible…I don't hate him…" H_aha yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said "I hate you."_ "I hope he knows I don't hate him. I'm so sorry. And he even got me this…" She hated to make the wrong impression. Those weren't things she usually said. She squeezed her eyes in embarrassment.

"Don't worry. It's Link. He's…the nicest, biggest sweetie that ever lived. Who would have thought _him_ to be the wielder of the Master Sword? He'd do anything. For anyone." She stood and handed the bundle Link had gotten to Meghan. "Open it."

Meghan carefully complied. Inside she found a black, sort of stretchy material long sleeved shirt. It looked like it would fit. Then she found another with a slightly different design, though almost the same. She found a pair of black pants, made of some weird material she had never felt before. Then a pair of white gloves. Then a white shirt and another pair of black pants. The material was almost jean-like, but more stretchy, sort of, and softer feeling. They all looked about the right size. He must have looked at her more than she noticed.

The last thing in the package was the thing she liked the most. It was a long, black cloak, made for the cold. It looked so warm. She wanted to put it on just then. It reminded her of something a princess would wear. It had a hood, and stitched on the front was that golden triangle symbol she'd seen around here a few times. It buttoned up in the front with black, shiny buttons. The bottom was trimmed with gold thread. It was beautiful. It wasn't the sort of thing that anybody wore where she came from, but it had a sort of elegance that couldn't be had where she came from.

"Meghan, he's so sweet! He must have spent quite a bit on that! He really cares for your well being. And all those other clothes…where does he get all this money?"

_I'm such an idiot! He spends all this money on me, and I treat him like a criminal! Why am I so stupid? _"Is it really that expensive? I should return it and get a cheaper one…" It was made of a light material, yet she could tell that it was very warm.

"Goddesses, no, don't! They know he has nothing else to spend his money on…" She touched the Triforce on the front left breast of the coat. "This is the Triforce. It is here to give courage, power, and wisdom in this dark time. We are all united…but even our united strength is, alone, not enough." She looked up at Meghan. "This is why we need Link. Link is everything we have, even if most people are unaware."

"Oh…" Meghan returned to looking at the cloak, still not quite understanding why Link was so important. Superhero was the best she could come up with. Or maybe he was like a prince or something. She didn't know. She should have treated him better. He didn't need any more darkness in his life. This was stupid. She was stupid.

"Meghan?" Saria drove her out of her thoughts. "I'm going to leave. You get dressed; I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

"OK."

Saria tilted her head to the side, deciphering Meghan's "OK," then realizing it was an affirmation, she closed the curtains to the windows. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Meghan began to reconsider even changing. She studied the clothes. She picked out a pair of pants, and the first black shirt she had looked at. Was she really going to change, and then let Link see her? That would be so embarrassing! No, she couldn't. But then, she would be letting them down. She couldn't do that either. She hesitated, but went on.

First, she put the pants on. They fit perfectly, showing her shape. She studied herself in the mirror. She didn't like tight pants. She thought they made girls look silly, trying to fit their legs into pants that showed off every curve and flaw. She usually wore comfortable, if not baggy jeans. But these weren't like that. They fit just right, not too tight, and not baggy. They made sense. Maybe this was what she should wear…

Then she put the shirt on. The soft, silky material looked like it would automatically fit any form. It looked as though it was made to be worn with a skirt, but she didn't care. She realized a ribbon held the back of the shirt together. It went three-quarters of the way down the shirt, lacing up her back. It needed to be tied at the top. She slipped the shirt on. The end of the sleeve was flared out the tiniest bit. The front of the shirt had a design in black flowing down the front. She examined herself in the mirror again. The front of the shirt came down about two inches from her collarbone, and had a sort of square cut-off. It was a comfortable length, and she felt like it didn't over accentuate her chubby mid section.

Maybe Link had good taste in clothes. A good thing on her list. For some reason, in her mind, she was blaming this whole catastrophe on him. But she knew that was totally wrong…she couldn't just make it someone's fault, and especially not his.

She lifted the curtains to one of window to see if Saria was around. She saw her walking toward the house.

"You look very nice," Saria complimented.

"Thank you…very much."

* * *

**Sorry, I took out the attack of the midgets. XD :D**


	11. Remix: History: Part Five

**About the story, I now know that Link is actually sixteen in OoT and that has been confirmed by Miyamoto himself...but I cannot get myself to change it. Their ages are quite important to me/the story/not really but kinda, and I don't want to change it. So ok, here is seventeen year old Linky boy [lessthanthree]. I suppose it's not so different, but sixteen just sounds too young to me. :)**

* * *

Saria gave Meghan an extra hairbrush she had. Meghan brushed her hair while talking to Saria. Saria realized, for the first time, just how long Meghan's hair was. It brushed the chair she sat on. Although it was long, it was trim and full, flowing and dark throughout.

"So how old are you?" Saria asked Meghan, too curious to refrain from asking her. Sometimes her childlike instincts to ask a million questions took over.

"Fifteen. I'll be sixteen in a about month. Well, I don't know if you use months here."

"We do! We call this month March. I guess it will be April tomorrow…"

"Oh! It is for me too!" Wow! She had to be somewhere on Earth. There was no way life could be so similar here if she wasn't. And besides, it was crazy to think she was on any other planet than Earth. _That_ couldn't be true.

Now that she thought about it, she had been sleeping. She'd been upset about something that seemed far beyond irrelevant now. But then she fell asleep. She didn't remember doing so. Did something happen to her in between her being upset, and her ending up here? The best explanation she could come up with was that someone had done something to her to bring her here. Had she been kidnapped? Dumped in the field? But then Link surely would have seen the person. Ugh. Whatever dream she'd had in that temple couldn't be the explanation.

She had all these thoughts while Saria continued on. "That's wonderful! Now, enjoy being young while you are! Though I never age, I have seen Link age. It was not easy for him to skip seven years. Everything-"

"Wait, what?"

"Hmm?" Saria asked. Then she gasped. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I forgot that you don't know."

"What do you mean by 'skip seven years?'" Had her child in a teenager's body theory been correct?

"Well...this is difficult to explain..." Saria said as she shifted about. "Mmm...well, all right. Link...he was chosen at a young age to be the saviour of the world. This was just over seven years ago, when strange evil began showing up throughout our country."

"How did they choose him?"

"It was the goddesses. We shall never know how their minds work."

Meghan nodded slowly. She didn't believe in deities, but she let others believe whatever they wanted and often just went along with it to make them happy.

"Anyway, he did fight a bit, but he was too young then. Somehow, it was decided that he could only be of use as an adult, so his body was locked away in our Sacred Realm, a very holy place, for seven years. He emerged from his sleep about a month ago. And he's been _fighting_ ever since, with barely a moment of calm between. He should have learned all those years, he didn't learn. He is mature for his age despite that, but I can't help but notice his naivety and insecurities. Don't tell him I said that, please!"

A million thoughts ran through her head. The usual "WTF" thoughts were there in abundance, but she had also been absorbed into this fantasy and was beginning to wonder questions about the details of this strange story. Stupid things that didn't matter because they couldn't be real, but things like, "Why put him to sleep for years? Why not train him for years?" and "what happened while he was sleeping?" and "was this place so different back then?"

Meghan laughed, but she felt bad for Link. And she gathered that Saria never aged, but she wondered why. "So exactly how old _is_ Link?" Well actually, she was more curious how old Saria was, but never mind that.

"He's seventeen. He was only ten when he was locked in the Sacred Realm. And then the entire world changed, for him in the blink of an eye. I can only imagine how he felt when he first saw Hyrule how it is now. No wonder he is so determined to change it." She paused for a few seconds, both girls in silence. "But he has learned so much in a short time, and his mind is _certainly_ not that of a child."

Meghan was silent, thinking about what Saria had said. It seemed she and Link were similar, yet very different. Saria had grown up while being a child, so while she still had childish tendencies herself, she was also completely mature. Link, however, had actually grown up physically, but without the time Saria's mind had to ripen. Yet both had to grow up in situations not very normal and perhaps not desirable…

Saria watched as Meghan fell deep into thought, dissecting the things that were probably strange to her, but she was determined to keep Meghan's mood light. She grabbed a pillow from her bed.

"But that's old news!" She tossed the pillow to Meghan, a friendly game of catch. Meghan was surprised! She stared at Saria for a second, and then quickly bent down to pick up the pillow on the ground. Saria took another pillow and smashed it into Meghan's arms. Meghan laughed, hitting Saria back gently.

"Is that all the power you have?" Saria joked.

"Heehee!" Meghan giggled as they engaged in an all-out pillow war. They were like great friends who had known each other their whole lives. Though in reality, they'd only met two days ago.

They must have been making a racket, because Link, who happened to be coming in the forest at this time, heard the entire ruckus in Saria's house. Sheik, too, was coming to check out the human again. Expecting something different, Link ran to the house and rushed inside. Two hard blows, meant by each girl for the other, came crashing down on Link. By the time they had realized who they had hit; they were both on the floor laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Saria fell on her back, laughing towards the sky and Meghan had kneeled down. They both laughed as Link put his hand on his head.

"Ow, that hurt!"

They stopped giggling after a while. Looking at him, Meghan almost felt sorry. He seemed confused.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, not smiling anymore, worried he'd be angry. Bu he grinned mischievously.

"It's all right."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Saria said, still smiling.

"No, I'm sorry about everything," Meghan said, standing to face him. She looked seriously into his eyes. "I shouldn't have said some things I said. I…understand now."

"I'm also sorry. Sorry I…" He looked down to her hand. She unconsciously grabbed it.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot."

"No, please. Don't call yourself an idiot, because you know perfectly well you're not."

"Thank you…" she stuttered.

"What for?"

"For everything. For…saving me, for giving me a place to stay…you too Saria…and for these clothes." She pulled at the shirt nervously. He had just noticed what she was wearing. His cheeks turned pink slightly.

"I'm…so sorry. You…I…Oh, my god! I'm so selfish!" she cried, realizing. She had been so sorry for herself the last couple of days, when Link had been going through this for how long? Not to mention seven years in his sleep...

"No, please don't apologize. You already have, _at least ten times…_"

Then, after a few seconds of glaring, Saria broke out into giggles again. Even Link showed a smiled.

_Wow, these Hylians—or Kokiris or whatever—keep getting weirder and weirder._ Meghan thought. The giggling subsided with a final sigh and it became quiet.

"So, we need to teach you everything, now. Starting with how to wield that sword." He pointed to the Kokiri Sword, lying on the table.

"What? What sword? What? Why?" She hadn't been planning to battle anyone…

"Do you have experience with defending yourself? Sword training?"

"No…" Was she supposed to?

"Well, you can't expect to go around here and have nothing to protect yourself with. It's dangerous around here. Most especially at night," he warned. "Unless you _really_ want to lock yourself in the forest, it's necessary. It is not safe to travel around here. And if you're going to be trying to find how to get home, I assume you won't want to stay in one place."

"You need to learn magic or how to use a weapon," Saria said.

"I don't think I can learn magic," she said. Scratch that…she _knew_ she couldn't. "Are you guys going to teach me?"

"But I'm sure you've used magic before. The…uh, TV must have been some sort of magic," he told her.

"No," she said, laughing. "It's just technology. Really, there was no magic involved! Anyone could do it. I can't do anything magical. Wish I could, though…"

"Well then, maybe sword training is the only way. I will teach you myself."

Saria sighed. "Just be careful, Link. You're very strong."

"Right." He gave Saria a meaningful glance. "Well, like I said we should start to train today."

"But…don't you have to do things?" Meghan asked.

"Such as what?"

"I thought you were…saving the country...? Don't you have to hurry?" She felt silly asking him, since she really didn't know what it was that he was doing.

"I wish I could. Unfortunately, things in the temples and outside of the temples take time…I hate do it, but if I do everything at once, it would be easy for Ganondorf to know where I am and what I'm doing. I have to pace what I do so as to not attract much attention."

"Oh…ok…" Temples...ehhh?

"Don't worry. When it's time for me to go back, I will do so. I sense something huge in that Water Temple, coming soon…"

Saria looked at him with knowing eyes. "Ruto will soon be awakened." He nodded.

"Anyway, for now I will focus on teaching." He smiled.

Meghan was actually excited for the first time. She thought it was amazingly awesome to be able to wield a sword! She thought of her parents at that moment, and she loved them. She would miss them, but she couldn't mope every second until she saw them again.

"Let's start now, is that all right?"

"Cool!" she said, grabbing the sword and strapping it on her back before you could say "big piece of trouble."

"We can go to Hyrule Field! Lots of room…ideal for training."

"OK, sure…"

"And first, I have to learn how to teach you."

"You've never taught anyone sword stuff before?"

"Uh, no. I hope I can be helpful. We'll both be learning." _How can he be so optimistic all the time?_

"Link, have her back before dark. It's dangerous at night!"

"Of course! Seriously, Saria!"

"Just go and teach her well!" She smiled, putting her hands on her hips.

"Right. Come on."

"Wait!" she said, smiling and remembering how cold it was. She ran to the table where she had put her clothes and took out the cloak. She put it on. It reached down a little above her ankles. It was actually quite warm. She looked up and gave off a smile too big for her. He thought it was the most genuine smile he'd seen on her face yet, and he blushed again, embarrassed again to have been the one to choose her clothing.

He turned and walked out the door slowly, waiting for her to walk at his side. He thought of how he was going to teach somebody. _Well, I guess we should start out with the basics, like horizontal and vertical slashes, and then other things and stuff, and maybe other weapons, but maybe that's for a different day…then…am I supposed to teach her rolling attacks? I don't want her to hit her head, but they're a good strategy in battle. I need to like work out a plan for teaching…I-_

"Link? I said bye!" Saria told him.

"Huh? Oh, right, bye."

"Don't hurt her,"she said in Hylian.

"Hey, Link. That's another thing you have to teach me. Your language!"

"Hylian? All right…"

"Sorry. Oh, by the way, when you were playing that instrument the other day, it was so beautiful...what was that?"

"Oh…"

"I like music, I play flute and piano…"

"Wow, you must be talented!"

"No!" She quickly regretted saying anything.

"Link, what about giving her lessons?" Saria said in Hylian. "You could use the ocarina I gave you."

"Do you really want me to let her use it?"

"I'm fine with it! You told me that you had a feeling that she would be here for a while. Why not let her borrow it?"

"Because you gave it to me. I don't want to-"

"It's all right, I'll get a new one for her. Use that one for lessons." She laughed.

"Hey…um, I have no idea what you're talking about…how do I know you're not scheming against me?"

"I promise we weren't! We just wanted to teach you this…" he said, taking the Fairy Ocarina out. Meghan's eyes opened wide.

"This is that instrument you were playing," she said. "It has such a pretty sound."

"Actually, _this_ was the one I was playing that day," he said, showing her the Ocarina of Time. "They are ocarinas. Do you not have ocarinas in your world?"

"I think we do, but I don't know much about them. Are you sure all of this is OK?"

"Completely sure." _Assuming that's what "OK" means._

"Thank you so much," she said, slowly and gently taking the ocarina from his hands when he offered it to her, as though it was going to break any moment.

"We should go, before it gets dark," he said as a kind reminder. She looked up at him, smiled, and nodded. _How could I have ever doubted him? I can't imagine this boy doing a thing wrong. He really is…quite sweet._

"Bye, Saria!" she said while walking away with Link. They walked in silence towards the entrance/exit. She walked beside him, but they didn't say anything, both a bit shy. Then, exiting the forest, they walked to a flat part of the field. Much of it was quite hilly, Meghan noticed.

Sheik had followed them. She climbed Kaepora's tree again, and watched as they began.


	12. Remix: History: Part Six

**Oops, I totally failed in my last little note…Link is supposed to be 16. I thought something seemed weird about that! Maybe eighteen is not too bad, sixteen just sounds too young. :D This was stated in a recentish (July?) interview with Miyamoto, which is actually very interesting. :D ****http:/ www. zeldauniverse. net/zelda -news/ocarina -of-time -development-details/#more- 26636 (hopefully this link works, take out the spaces! :) )**

* * *

"Wait a second. Before you start, we need to start over again," Meghan said.

"What?" he asked, distracted.

"We got off to a weird start…very weird, so we need a proper introduction." She stood squarely facing him. "Hi, I'm Meghan Black, from Earth. What's your name?" She stuck out her hand. Link looked at it. Then he looked at her face, smiled, then back down at her hand.

"It's all right. I know you don't have any weapons. You don't have to prove it to me. You just fell from the sky, after all."

"No, it's a hand shake. It's what people from my world do to greet each other. Take my hand," she coaxed him, he stuck out his awkwardly, and she took it. He blushed again. "And shake. Up and down, there you go!"

He let go, looking quite confused, as though he had no idea what he had just done. "Now I've taught you something from my culture, now you have to teach from yours."

"All right…um, let me think. How about some Hylian words? To say hello is 你好."

"Wow, OK. 你好." She repeated the word.

"And bye is 再见"

"再见," she repeated.

"Good."

"你好, That's a cool sounding word. And so is…how do you say bye again?"

"再见."

"OK. 再见."

"Good."

"OK! Now I need to learn how to wield a sword," she said with a smile.

"Right…this is the hard part. All right, I guess we just start out with the basics, like horizontal and vertical slashes. Like this. Step back…" he drew the sword, then demonstrated a horizontal, then a vertical slash of the sword.

"Cool." She reached to draw the sword, but it wouldn't come out.

"Let me fix that," he offered, walking behind her and adjusting it. She turned her head slightly to see what he was doing. "Now try it."

"Thanks." She drew it. Then she did the horizontal, then a vertical. She liked it, the feeling was great!

"Good, now lead with the tip! Don't just swing."

Ok, maybe she was doing it completely wrong, but it was still exhilarating.

"Try to keep your back straight! Don't lean forward. Raise it high above your head! Cut completely horizontally, don't go diagonally."

Damn, this kid really knew what he was talking about. When did he learn all of this? She did repetition after repetition, her breath growing heavy.

"All right, now try to hit me."

Her eyes grew wide. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Don't worry, you won't."

_Gosh, no need to rub it in. I'm just a beginner_, she joked in her head. She slashed at him. He blocked it. He was surprised that it took practically no effort. She was sort of weak.

"Good." She was surprised as well. Was he that strong? She had hit him hard (OK, maybe not _as_ hard as she could), and his sword didn't even move? Barely. She tried again. This time, she hit as hard as she could. Their swords met, but his arm stayed still.

"God, you're good!" she exclaimed. He had moved so quickly to block her, before she'd even had the idea to attack herself! He didn't respond to her compliment. (A/N-This is no exaggeration...these really awesome fighter types can do these things. My kendo instructor often knows what I'm about to do before I even think about it. It's absolutely astounding.)

She tried again. This time, she didn't just hit him. As her sword collided with his, she held it there and pushed it, both her hands gripped on the small hilt. It was too tiny to provide much leverage so she moved on hand to press against the flat of the blade. His sword moved only slightly to adjust for the sudden movement, then stopped. She tried, but through all her efforts, she couldn't accomplish much. He barely budged.

"All right, all right, maybe we should do something else," he said, almost laughing.

"Like?"

"Other attacks. Like…" he thought for a second. _Maybe combinations of things. Or, wait, no. Defense. That would be good._

"All right. I want you to do as I tell you."

"OK…"

"All right…um, all right. I'm going to try to hit you. You have to defend yourself."

"With the sword? OK, I'll try..."

"All right, get ready."

"Hey, people in battle don't normally tell their opponents to get ready before they strike."

"Oh, right…" _I am not a good teacher._ Then he struck. She didn't think enough to put the sword completely in front of his sword, resulting in…

"Ouch. Don't poke me!" she said. The sword had hit the underside of her arm, sneaking beneath her cloak as it was raised. Luckily, it only made a small cut, a tiny scratch. Blood rushed to fill the itsy bitsy cut.

"Oh my goddesses! You're…leaking!"

"What? Blood? Is that what you call it here?" She laughed. They call bleeding _leaking_?

"Blood?" he asked, a slightly horrified expression on his face. "I've never seen blood that color. Hylians don't have blood."

"I'm not a Hylian," she informed him. "I'm a human. It's my species. I'm a homo sapiens…sapiens."

"Homo sapiens sapiens?"

"Uh, just forget it. I'm human, you're Hylian. You got it. OK."

"What does blood do?" he asked with curiosity as she bared her arm to the slightly cold air.

"Transports nutrients and oxygen and stuff. You must have something like it. It's not like your body runs on anaerobic respiration, there's no way. I mean, you do eat, right?"

"Eat? Well…"

Her jaw dropped. "You don't _eat_?"

"Just me. Everyone else does."

"At _all_?"

"Or drink. But I'm not hungry or thirsty." It was strange, and he knew it. What did his body run on? He didn't even know. He just knew almost every time he defeated a monster, he felt better. Sometimes he wondered if he was stealing the life force of that monster…he wasn't sure if he liked that idea or not.

Then her stomach started rumbling violently. She felt empty.

She was hungry.

"OK, well I'm hungry…I haven't eaten in quite a while." Had she eaten at all since being here? It had to be at least a day.

"I haven't eaten since last week," he said, thinking.

"Last _week_?" she asked, very surprised.

"I had some milk last week. Oh, would you like some?" He looked around in his pockets.

"I'd love some!" But uh...wasn't it going to be spoiled from hanging around in his pockets?

He looked skeptical, and then handed over the bottle. "You can keep the bottle. I'll get you some real food now, if you want."

"No, it's OK, you don't have to."

"Are you certain? It's not a big deal. We can go to Kakariko."

"Really, I'm fine." She didn't have any money anyway, and she would really feel bad if he paid for her again, even though she was drinking his milk.

"OK." She finished with the milk, feeling quite refreshed for having drank who-knows-how-old-pocket-milk. She placed the bottle on the ground, then he swung at her again. She blocked, barely. "Ah! Oops, I wasn't expecting that. I don't want to bleed anymore; it'll give you a heart attack!"

"What's a-"

She sighed. "Myocardial infarction?"

His look was slightly blank, but there was also a slight smile.

"Just forget it."

He laughed and tried to hit her again. She knocked the sword to the side with a hit.

"Good. Now to move on. I think we should, just in case, work on defense without a weapon. Just in case we're in any situation without a weapon, though that's unlikely, but who knows. Put the sword back in the sheath," Meghan did as told. She missed the first time since she wasn't looking behind herself, but got it in when she looked and went slowly.

"We must look to where exactly the sword is going, how far it will reach, and how to evade it properly." _Wow! I'm good at this! I don't even know how I'm thinking of all these things to say. _"Also probably the speed at which the weapon is going."

"OK," she said, listening intently.

"Now. I'm going to try to hit you. I'll go slow so you don't leak…"

"Bleed."

"Yeah, that and so I don't have a heart attack." He smiled mischievously. She laughed.

He slashed, she jumped back, evading.

"I'll get you a Deku Shield. It will help you."

"Ah, no, I'll pay for it!" she said frantically.

"Do you have any money?"

"No, but, uh, it's not that hard to get…" Actually she had no idea where she'd get money. Would she have to get a job?

"I'll pay for it. I'm fine with it."

She frowned. "I guess I need to find a job," she said.

"No, don't worry about that. I'm sure we'll find your way home before that becomes necessary." _Should I tell her that I just _find_ all my money? And I really don't mind spending it for other people, since it's not actually mine?_

They continued training, mostly just practice strikes. She was growing tired, her arm muscles weak.

He let her try his bow, and by no means did she even hit the tree they were targeting. ("Does the fairy help you target? Wow, that makes it easy for you," she'd said.) At least it went somewhere, right? She felt happy when he said it was a good shot, for her first try. That was the good part.

Finally, a long while had passed, and Meghan was tired from the workout she didn't have normally in her schedule (AKA she was way out of shape), they sat in the field on the wall-thing and Link took out his Ocarina. Meghan took hers from where she had put it, in a pocket on the inside of the cloak. He played his favorite song, which was apparently called Zelda's Lullaby. He instructed her where to put her fingers on which holes. She played the song, feeling it caress her as each note went through her mind. Finally, she had the song satisfactorily.

"You know, if you use the same notes but in a different order, my horse Epona will come," he said.

"Really? Can you play it? I'd love to see her. I love horses and animals and stuff. And your Epona is so pretty."

He laughed. "Sure."

The horse came galloping freely to Link, to Meghan's delight and wonder. She eyed Meghan inquisitively, keeping a short distance. Meghan smiled at the gorgeous horse, trying to mentally convey to her that she meant no harm.

"Hey, Epona. Wanna go for a ride?"

"Hey! Wait!" he cried, worried for her safety. He was sure Epona wouldn't take kindly to her. But Meghan, who had used the wall to mount, was already on the horse. The saddle was a bit strange, it was more of a western than the English she'd rode, but wasn't that different. She held the reins in an English position, and then told Epona to go forward in a walk. "She likes you," Link said. "She would have thrown someone else off if I wasn't here."

"Aw, Epona, thanks for not throwing me! I've ridden before, not constantly, but a few times."

"Are you going to steal my horse?" he joked as Epona slowly moved farther.

She smiled. "Maybe I am! Come on, Epona. Let's leave Link alone." She pretended she was going to go somewhere, but turned around and got off.

"All right, next time tell me beforehand if you're going to steal someone of mine."

"OK." She jumped down from the stone wall which she'd been standing on, smiling up at him.

"It's getting dark, Saria will kill me if you're not back, and I have some things I need to do."

"Like what?" she asked. Maybe she was being nosy, but for some reason she felt comfortable asking him.

He gave her a look, though it didn't seem like he minded answering. "Finishing the temple." He finally felt it was the right time to go back, his training with Meghan being light-hearted. It had kept his mind from the dread that plagued him. "I must find Princess Ruto and awaken her to her duties as a sage."

"At night?" Though he apparently _never slept_ either.

"Yes. I can't wait any longer. It's already been a while since I've been there." Probably the longest break he had taken, but he felt it was justified in some sense given the physically taxing nature of the temple and his declining mental state…

"And it's my fault," she said, realizing she had distracted the poor hero more than she should have.

"No, it isn't. Please, I chose to do this. It's my responsibility, not yours. So don't feel responsible, please. I'll take you back to Saria's house now." They walked back home, Meghan leading Epona at her side, feeling comfortable with the horse.

"I'll see you when I finish."

"…Good luck."

"Thank you," he said.

"I expect to hear success from you, OK?" she smiled at him.

"If that's what you expect, then it will happen."

She just laughed. The whole situation was making her uncomfortable. Would he be safe? He was putting himself in danger, wasn't he? She smiled and waved to him, and he left. Something was definitely weird about this…

She walked to Saria's house alone. When she got there, she found a note near the door:

Deer Megin,

I am sorry, I have to go on sages bisness. Ill see you soon, and be carefull. I doo not want you too go out at nite, and tell Link i now if he has brout you bak befor dark or not! If you need anything, I will send my fairy every wonce in a wile to chek on you. Their is food in the kichen, help yourself!"

Love,

Saria.

"Aww, Saria…she is so sweet." She looked around the house. "Guess I'm by myself." She looked out the window. It was turning dark, and she was tired from the day's workout. She found some fruit that she meagerly snacked on, sitting on the floor against the bed, meaning to just sit for a second, but soon she fell asleep.

She woke up sometime during the night. She had no idea what time it was, but she couldn't sleep again. She tried in a normal position lying on her bed, but she found she was actually worried about Link. He was in danger. She got up. The dark house was scary. She wanted to go. But Saria had told her not to! But she couldn't stay! What had happened to Link? She had to find him. Would he be done by now? She quickly put on the sword, then put the cloak on, took the ocarina, and left in a hurry. The cloak flowed behind her as she jogged outside. She got to Hyrule field, and hoped that Link wasn't on his horse. She played Epona's song to the best of her ability, remembering the way Link had played it.

When Epona came to her she was relieved. Epona gave her a confused glance, looking around.

"Hey, girlie," Meghan said softly. "Do you want to go see Link?"

Epona stood still. Meghan took a step forward, and Epona didn't move, so she moved closer. It seemed she would let her ride. After some trouble, Meghan mounted.

"Epona, do you know where Link is? Can you find him for me?"

Epona neighed, throwing her head. She took a few steps.

"That's it, go on!"

She was off. It was a nice canter for about ten minutes, until they reached a point where they seemed to be heading straight into some fences. She didn't know what they were blocking off, but Epona was definitely going straight to them.

"Wait, Epona, stop! You're going to crash!" She pulled at Epona, trying to get her to stop, but the horse was even going _faster_. "Are you going to jump? What! No! Stop! Whoa!" She cried out as they were right there. Meghan ducked her head down, holding onto Epona for dear life as she vaulted over one, two gates.

"Ah!" she cried again as they landed, and Epona was off at top speed down a path between two mountain sides. Meghan's heart was beating hard, equally thrilled and freaked.

And then she saw it. Before her was a giant, gorgeous lake, though it seemed a bit empty and there were wrecked structures laying about. It was dark in the night, lit by the slightly rising sun, glistening. She dismounted, walking slowly toward the shore. It was breathtaking. Suddenly, as she was walking down a bridge, Link appeared on the platform across from her, floating in from the sky in a sapphire gem. The water level, which had been very low a few seconds ago, started to rise. She went to where Link was standing and he smiled at her and said, "What are you doing here?" Then he frowned. "You shouldn't be out here at this time."

"I was bored." He laughed. "I was worried," she amended. "Are you OK? Did you get hurt at all?"

"No. I was not hurt seriously." He was quite wet, however, and there was a rip in his tunic.

"Oh, that's good! I'm glad."

* * *

Sheik watched silently from the tree. She jumped down and Link turned, surprised.

"Well done, Link…" she said in Hylian while watching Meghan carefully. "You have restored the Lake and awakened the Sage of Water."

He nodded in reply.

"This is…" she started in Hylian, "the human." Her tone was skeptical. Meghan had no idea what she was saying.

"This is Meghan. Meghan is from a place called Earth. She's a friend," Link answered in English. "She doesn't speak Hylian."

"Earth." Link and Meghan nodded. Sheik switched back to Hylian. "How interesting. Link, you do know that out of every life form, humans are among the most destructive and irresponsible. In the short time they have been abounding as a species, they have had far more wars than Hyrule and Termina put together. Hylians have been around for much longer, but have not committed the brutal acts against our own kind that humans have." Meghan looked confused. Hylian again! She really wished she could understand.

"I am saying," Sheik said, turning to Meghan carefully, and explaining in English, "That you are inherently a danger to Hyrule. I do not know why you are here, but I have heard from the goddesses that it is not for a good reason. You must leave Hyrule alone." Sheik stopped in front of Meghan. "You must leave, human," she said.

"Sheik, no!" Link jumped in front of Meghan. "Why would she help me if she wanted to harm us? You are so wise and helpful, but check your actions! She wouldn't harm anyone!" he said in Hylian.

"Link, she can only cause harm. That is why she's here," Sheik said in English. "I won't hurt her. I'll just send her to another world."

"She's a little girl, Sheik! She can't do anything! She's weak," he said in Hylian.

"I don't want to hurt you. I really don't! I don't even _want_ to be here!" Meghan cried. "Can't you send me home? At least there I have a few friends." Her faced had turned stricken, tears smashing down as she fought the urge to sink to the ground. "Can you just send me back?" Sheik looked at her, and suddenly Meghan seemed fragile. "I just want to go home. I don't want to hurt anyone."

_My thoughts…were they interfered with? If I send her to another world, she will surely perish…and I do not have the power to send her to her own world. Goddesses, what have you placed upon me? A destiny or a killer instinct? What was the meaning of the prophecy? Have I misunderstood it? _Sheik relaxed. Her head had felt fogged before, but now it was clear.

The goodness in the girl's heart was extremely apparent just then. Her aura glowed with the color of good and benevolence. Sheik was surprised by it. Why hadn't she seen it? The girl had let go…

"I…I'm sorry. I have strayed from the purpose of my visit. I…" she said shakily. "Link," she said in Hylian, "I have seen incorrectly. She means…only well."

"Can you send her back? That's all she wants." He said these words with a bit of heaviness in his heart. The mystery and curiousness she brought with her sent away would just allow the world to be what it had been...dark.

"I can't," she said in Hylian. She was somber now. "I do not have the power for that…" she thought for a moment. "But I will try to find out how to. I promise."

"Tell her," he said in English. "In Terminian."

"I cannot send you back as I am now. I must learn more. I am truly sorry." She watched Meghan's face fall again. "I must go now." Sheik stepped back. And then Meghan saw it.

There was just that slight way that her body curved, the way her voice and face were _mostly_ masculine, but not quite. She was hiding. Everything about her was hiding. And that made it so obvious.

"Wait!" Meghan walked up to her. "I know who you are." Sheik froze.

"I am a survivor of the Sheikah."

"No, I know who you really are." Meghan took a step to her.

"I am Sheik, no one more." How would the girl know anything else? Sheik took a step back.

"No," she whispered so Link wouldn't hear. "You're…the princess."

"The princess! Yes, as a _male_ Sheikah, I am her loyal servant! Goddesses bless her soul, trapped in darkness and hiding!" Sheik's red eyes stayed on Meghan.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone," she said in response to Sheik's crazy reaction, then turned to Link, who looked confused at their whispering.

"Oh…right. I must be going now." Sheik/Zelda stepped back again. She looked around for a second, then unexpectedly threw a deku nut to the ground and was gone in a puff of smoke.

"Meghan, are you all right? What did he say?"

"Sheik said that he was sorry." She wiped her face self-consciously, growing embarrassed of her looks suddenly.

"Oh. I'm sorry too, on behalf of Sheik."

"It's OK, really." She convinced him to drop the subject.

"All right. Does Saria know you're here?"

"I think so…"

"How are you not sure?" he asked, walking towards Epona.

"She wasn't there. She said she had some sage's business to attend to."

"Oh?" He started to walk while leading Epona.

"I have no idea what though."

"That's all right. Do you have your sword?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you want to train some more?"

"Of course! That would be good, I think…"

"Of course it's good! But we must always remember why we are training, and then it is not good."

"You're right…well, let's anyway."

"All right." They walked out in silence to where they were yesterday. Then they started. They did almost exactly what they did yesterday, for an hour at least. Then Link brought up the subject:

"I must find the next temple soon."

"Really? How do you know where to go?"

"Sheik gave me some ideas. Kakariko should be the right place."

"Kakariko is in that direction, right?" she asked, turning to face the direction she thought it would be.

He looked and agreed. "Yes, that's the…direction…" His eyes grew wide, as they both noticed smoke was billowing from that direction.

They started running.


	13. Remix: History: Part Seven

What I felt as I entered Kakariko that morning hung heavily in the atmosphere, palpable panic and loss mingled in the air. Houses were burned, lifelong treasures destroyed. Families struggled to stay together while fleeing the fires. Frantic people hid from the spreading flames. I glanced at the girl next to me, watching as she took everything in. On her face was a horrified expression. I knew she felt the hurt. I knew that I had to be strong.

I stepped forward, as did she. She followed as I moved towards the most outstanding part of the disaster. Sheik was there, trying to do something, but I couldn't figure out what. He was knocked back as I rushed to him, still followed by the human girl at my side.

Sheik stood straight again. He had his weapons out, looking around frantically. Something was around us, but it was invisible to me. I drew my sword as well. I hesitated as to what to do, a costly mistake.

Whatever the thing was attempted to grab me, but Meghan came and pushed me to the to the side before I could figure out what she was doing, but I'm not sure how she saw it before I did. It was a persistent thing, and it tried again. This time it got me. I felt like a toy, waved around in the air by a careless child, my stomach lurching with sickness, and then I was falling full force to the ground. I blacked out.

* * *

The spirit thing grabbed Link and threw him. He landed, unconscious. I was scared. The thing was dangerous. But as Sheik went to take care of it, casting some magic to make it visible, I went the opposite way to Link. Sheik somehow managed to keep it down, attempting to work her magic to seal it in the well.

I kneeled next to him. He was awake in seconds.

"Whoa." He sat up, and then stood. I did too. "What was that thing?" Sheik explained quickly, but I phased out as I watched the people around, seeing if I could help at all. I only started paying attention at the end when Sheik took out her lyre and taught Link the Nocturne of Shadow. He picked up the song very quickly. I could tell he was one of those people, the people who can do music perfectly without much effort. I wished I was like him.

"I have to go back," he said at the end of it.

Sheik stared for a second with unreadable eyes, then nodded once. I still wasn't playing too much attention, so I thought he meant back to the forest or something.

"What will she do, then?" Sheik asked quietly.

"Me?" I asked, tuning into the conversation.

"She wasn't here seven years ago."

"Seven years ago?" I asked, quite confused now. What, were they going back in time or something? Ha, that would make my _life_.

"Yes…Link…he, well," Sheik said, as though she was trying to decide whether to tell me or not.

"I have to go back in time, seven years," he said. "To when I was a child, so that I can find something I need." Not sure if I stared in disbelief or screamed, "What?!" But to whatever I did, he answered, "Yes…I probably shouldn't have told you that. You'll think it's crazy."

Got that right. Still, I felt like it made sense, given this whole mess of a situation. Sure, why not? Throw some_ time travel_ in there! No big deal. I briefly wondered if all this experience had been was me being thrown back in time. This probably _was_ earth-just a million years ago.

"Yep. OK, so then what? I wasn't here seven years ago. Do you think that going back in time will send me back home?" I gasped, realizing the alternative. "Would it send me back to when I was little?" The idea scared and baffled me. I really didn't want to go back to being eight years old…just imagine having to live your life over again!

"We must talk to the sages. They'll know what to do," Sheik said.

"I'll call Saria," Link said, "after we help clean up this mess and make sure everyone's safe." He looked to the fires in Kakariko, the people talking loudly around them. The girls nodded.

* * *

"Would it send me home?" she asked eagerly, moving herself close to Link's strange phone-ocarina, as though it really was a phone.

"Well, we don't even know _if_ anything will happen. You could just return as your eight year old self here," Saria said. Link quickly did the math, since he hadn't known how old Meghan was before Saria had said that. _That means she's fifteen_...

"Not to deliberately disprove you, Saria," began Sheik, "but I feel that would most likely not happen." She did not mention her prophecy, for it would surely give her away. "But given the circumstances, a person does not just return to another dimension. Earth exists in another timeline, another place analogous to our own but completely different. The legends say it is another branch of time that developed as a result of disparate results of a decision. The Goddesses are solely able to transport between dimensions. The magic that surrounds the Temple of Time and the Master Sword do not have that whole power. Since you would not be here seven years before, you could not return to your younger self either. So the result would be a placement in some place in between, neither here nor there. I suspect you would not enjoy this place."

"Kinda like limbo..." Meghan said, imagining the emptiest, most desolate place that she could. A place with no other beings, a dark place. Sheik was rather blunt with the idea of it, and she felt a little hurt.

"Yes, I believe."

"So…"

"Well, there is a place within the Sacred Realm of which I know. It's a sector of the realm in which no matter how much time passes in Hyrule, time will never pass there. It exists in another yet another shift of time, and therefore you'd be safe."

"So if I went there while Link went back in time, nothing would happen to me?" She was disappointed. She had hoped this would send her home, but she didn't want to take a chance with limbo...

"Yes, nothing would happen."

"Saria, can you put Meghan there?" Link asked.

"But wait, I still have to go there even if I'm not going to be with Link? Like if I was here in Kakariko while he's somewhere else? Where's the time machine?"

"I feel it would be wise to bring you there either way, since we have limited understanding of the magic which drives the shifts between time. We do not know how it will affect you."

"Oh…" She didn't know why, but she felt nervous about going to wherever this was.

"Saria, can you arrange it?" Link asked.

"Yes, it could certainly be arranged. I'll tell Rauru now."

"Thank you, Saria." Meghan felt like she was in the way, and everyone had to do everything for her since she had been here. "I'm sorry guys, it's kinda strange that you have to do all these things for me. I must be a major pain in the butt." What if she'd never met them? What if she had just gone to Kakariko, made friends with the average village people, never came across these magical people? Would bad things have happened to her?

"Not at all, don't even think that. It's what we do," Link said, despite her weird expression. _Pain in his butt?''_

They just watched her silently. "I don't want to keep you waiting either! We should go now!" Link looked at her. Then he looked at Sheik. Sheik closed her eyes and nodded the slightest bit.

"Saria, please talk to Rauru, as we must leave now," Sheik said to the air.

"Of course!" Saria severed their connection.

"I will see you again, hero." Sheik backed up, and in a second, was gone.

"Let's go to the Temple of Time. We'll wait for them to figure this out there."

"Okie dokie."

"The quickest way there would be to teleport."

"OK, but…"

"I know you can't teleport, but normally Navi teleports with me. So if a fairy can do it, why not a human? Hold on to my shoulder. Hopefully this will work." He smiled, holding his ocarina in two hands, nudging his arm toward her.

She wasn't a touchy sort of person. And touching him…would be weird. You know. Nothing to do with those arm muscles twice the size of hers.

"All right, now," he said. She didn't touch him. "Just do it."

She reached out her index finger, poking his arm. He raised his eyebrow slightly, rather confused, then played the song, and they both teleported. The world twisted around her, strewing her insides around whatever dimension they were passing through. When they reached the Temple of Time, Meghan staggered a bit. She went one way, then the other until she caught herself.

"That was weird," was the only way she could describe her first teleporting experience. Her mind was strangely numb, her vision blurred.

"Yeah…that was exactly the way I felt the first time I did it." She put her hand on her head. "Don't worry, the dizziness goes away in a few seconds."

They heard a voice. "Step forward, hero, human." Link did as told. Meghan followed. _Why can't I have a cool title? He gets called _hero_,_ _but I'm just_ human._  
_

"Who's that?" she whispered, but she thought she could guess.

"_Rauru,_" he whispered. They stepped beyond the Door of Time, into the chamber beyond.

"Link, you must replace the Master Sword in its Pedestal in order to return to the past. As for the girl, she must step forward and we will bring her to the Sacred Realm." Meghan looked at Link, who gave her a "go ahead" look. She mumbled in her head about how no one would address her directly. They all spoke to Link as though she wasn't there.

She stepped forward, towards the Master Sword. She turned around and waved goodbye as the light took over her form.

"Good luck, be careful," she said distantly. It was so bright; he could soon no longer see her. When the light faded, the space she had occupied was empty, and the world seemed smaller somehow.

He drew the sword from its sheath, then forced it in the pedestal, where he too was engulfed by the light, the Lights of Time.

And suddenly he felt very short.

* * *

"Meghan! Come this way, quickly!" Meghan was on a silver platform, the rest of the world dark and swirling around her. She felt sick for a moment, trapped in an infinite sea of nothingness until Saria grabbed her hand and ran in a direction off the platform. When she stepped off the platform, though, she did not fall. She just kept going until Meghan could see nothing but darkness from each side. No up, no down. Then Saria abruptly turned and ran, as though there was an invisible road they were following. She didn't even see the silver platform behind herself. After a while, though, Meghan saw something before them. A door that seemed _familiar_ growing from the abyss as they drew closer.

"Do you recognize it?" Meghan nodded. It was the Door of Time! And standing before it were the already awaked sages. Darunia, Ruto, and Rauru. "Inside here is a stone called a Timeshift Stone which sends an area into a certain time period. Time will pass around you, but not there."

"Uh…wow. That's interesting…and quite mind boggling."_ Don't think about it don't think about it._

Saria giggled, then turned serious. "Quickly, Sages! We must open it!" Saria instructed. Saria raised her hands above her head, as if she were holding something there. Then she brought them slightly forward, with her palms facing the door. Then Rauru joined, then Darunia, then Ruto. The door opened slowly. "Inside Meghan! He is putting the sword in!" Meghan ran inside the room.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, her whole body stopped. Her heart stopped beating, she stopped breathing. She almost felt like she wouldn't be able to move, but she lifted her arm, then turned to find that Saria had stepped inside with her. She felt suffocated, yet she was perfectly alive. Stillness. Maybe it was the feeling of her blood ceasing its flow.

The room was an exact replica of the room where the Master Sword's pedestal lay. It looked the same as the temple, but for a purplish stone sitting where the sword should have.

"We should not have to stay very long," Saria said as the door closed, the other sages disappearing through the cracks.

"Thanks for coming in with me! I have been scared of being locked in a room with that big door there," she nodded towards it.

"Me too," Saria agreed, laughing as the door slowly opened. "It is time to go back."

Meghan was flabbergasted. "_Already_?" And she was just getting used to feeling dead!

"I told you, time does not pass within these walls. Everybody has probably been waiting for a while now. And Link has probably been waiting for even longer, since he has gone back in time and through dimensions." She laughed.

"OK…right..." This all _seriously_ made her brain hurt.

She bid the sages farewell and was returned to Hyrule's Temple of Time. Link was standing in the same place as before. It had been a strange time for him, going back to being a kid, where he had felt slightly more real. He was more used to it. Yet something about being an adult…it was more natural. He saw the world for what it was. It didn't mean he lost his childish wonder, but he couldn't be so deceived any longer. Here, in his adult form, he felt like something was waiting for him, even besides his duties. It was a _life_. A real life, however it turned out. Not an eternal childhood.

"Did you get what you needed?" she asked.

"The Lens of Truth," he said, carefully displaying it for her. She peered through it, a curious purple device like a magnifying glass, but nothing happened. She did not have magic power to see with. She looked up to him and he shrugged, pulling it back to himself, looking at her through it for a moment. "Well, at least I know you're real now," he joked with a half smile.

She laughed. "We have to go to the…temple?" she asked, unsure if that was his next step. That was how it had seemed.

"_I_ must go. Not _we_."

"I want to go, too! I want to see what it's like! Is it scary? I love scary."

He gave her a dour look. Well, even if he knew she was real, sometimes she didn't seem to believed that everything else around her was real. Not a game. "No, I can't even let you. That's crazy. They are very dangerous." She couldn't fight a _fairy_ if she wanted to, never mind _monsters_!

"Yes, please?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No, _please_. You don't understand."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"_No_."

"Yes!"

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"_Thank_ you!"

"Thank you? For what? Meghan, this is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but—"

"For letting me come."

"I didn't say you could come!"

"You just did! I said no, and you said yes!"

"I did not…oh, wait…that was not fair! You can't come. _No_. This isn't even an option. You _don't understand. _This isn't a game!"

"Stop being a hypocrite. You say I can't come, but then you say I can, and then say that you didn't say that I could but you really did say that I could because you just changed your mind, but then said you didn't."

He laughed, not able to help himself, throwing his head into his hand. "What? Oh, never mind. Listen! I can't protect both of us easily. And we don't know what's in there."

The idea of the temple sent masochistic shivers down her arms. She had definitely always liked haunted houses…but none had ever actually been dangerous to her. She was going on what he'd told her about other temples, with the monsters and the puzzles. She had no idea, however, that this specific temple was actually a real life haunted house.

"I would not go into this with optimism." He shook his head. "I can't let you." Really, was she crazy? He couldn't say it, but the girl had the strength of an ant and the sword skills of a fish (and not even a Zora). And the bottom of that well..._he_ almost shivered at the thought of it. He didn't think he could change so easily, but as a child, things had been slightly more frightening.

"Yes, one problem though," she suddenly thought.

"What is that?"

"The Lens of Truth will only work for you," she said, starting to walk past him, out of the Temple of Time. "You're going to have to tell me where all the hidden stuff is. I hope it's not scary hidden stuff..."

He sighed and smiled, turning to exit the Temple of Time as well. "Come on. I can only imagine the trouble you can get into without me watching you." If the temple was a fraction as unnerving as the well had been, she probably wouldn't be able to tolerate much. Unless he underestimated her bravery, her run-ins with the redeads were indication that she couldn't _possibly_ be that dauntless. Hopefully the first-hand experience would get those ideas out of her head, and he could go on with his mission.

"Yes, sir!" she said, hopping to his side as they walked away.

* * *

Everything happens like clockwork. The world happens like cruel and beautiful clockwork. Sometimes the clockwork works like backwards clockwork, and sometimes the clockwork works like stopped clockwork. But it's all clockwork, you know? I don't know what compelled me to want to see the inside of his life, to see what it was that foreign fantasy heroes really did when saving the world, but it happened. As it turned out, it wasn't much help, but I think he appreciated my company in the short time I was present to freak out.

Link had many friends and made them easily, but he never could depend on them. They could never, in the end, share his burden. Everything that he had to do was his job alone. His responsibility. And it would be denying that responsibility to take anyone with him, to put him or her in danger. Maybe I didn't count, because I wasn't from his world. He had no responsibility or destiny to save _me _(but he did anyway).

I was different in the way I acted. I had strange interests, strange tendencies. I did not make friends easily. There was some strange darkness I had found in the world. To this day I can't explain it. Why was I so sad about things? It was probably just hormones. Probably just my dislike of no one liking me, exacerbated. Teenage drama queen!

But what in Link changed this? Suddenly, I had a great friend. I'm not gonna question it. We clicked.

We became closer in the few hours it had taken for him to beat the Shadow Temple, and the hours afterward. Around every corner, every time my heart skipped a bit in fear, he was there to make it all right. His sheer courage was _astounding_. I held him back, of course, but he was always kind, always willing to help me through when I felt too frozen to move. This place was the definition of fear, but he eradicated it. I had no place there, but he welcomed my company anyway. I understood (marginally, but that was more than most) what he had to go through, and realized that no one else _could_ do what he did. I left that temple after _maybe_ twenty minutes of heart-thumping madness, but he stuck it out for _hours_.

For some reason after that, I had no inhibitions when I spoke with him. He openly told me things, too. I had felt so much like I found a true best friend, though I kept these thoughts to myself.

After that temple, Link and I set the carpenters free, and got passes to come through Gerudo's Fortress. Link actually only got his pass after much convincing that I was _not_ the brains of the operation (like I would know to save them!). Actually, I'd been outside the fortress until he mentioned getting a pass for me as well. They came out to meet me and had wanted to give one _only_ to me. Apparently the Gerudos are _all _crazy. Crazy female chauvinistic women-empowerment advocates (and the one male was hell-bent on ruling the world, which I personally believe must be the result of some sort of traumatic childhood). Then we trudged through the desert. The desert is not a generally pleasant place. The high winds and the scorching heat caused sand to stick to our sweaty skin, which is irritating in more than one way. But somehow, I love it. I loved the desolate, barren lands and the grandiose temple, dedicated to their sand goddess. It was there that we discovered that he had to go back in time, _again_.

Anyway, on our way back to the Temple of Time, to yet again let Link back to his kid form, he explained a lot of the story about how Ganondorf had come into power. He told me the ugly details, ones he hadn't told me before. He knew me now, and didn't seem to withhold information. It made me angry. It made me want to go kill G-dork myself for causing all these poor people so much pain, and for putting Link through this. I didn't know the words for what I wanted to express, and so my statement came out quite unwieldy, but I learned something (the hard way).

"God, Link...I just...I feel so awful, it just makes me furious-"

Well, I almost killed Link. That could have been bad new bears. That unexplained magic thing that I didn't even know _existed_ happened, then. I don't even think it is technically magic, but I couldn't explain it any other way. He jumped to the side as a white, burning thing came out of my hand.

"What…you can do magic?" He was surprised. We stopped walking.

"I…I don't think so." As the strange, fuzzy bit of lightening flew from me, I felt something leaving my being. Like my insides just got up and left.

"Can you do that again?" he asked in awe, looking between my hands and my face.

"What did I do?" I was shocked.

"Well maybe it was a movement you made." I knew then that when he wanted to cast one of his spells, he would do a sequence of fancy moves to get it out. He could apparently teleport without the ocarina (which I had yet to see), but when he had made an explosion of fire outside the Shadow Temple, he'd pounded the ground with a ball of magic in his hand.

"I was just walking..." I said, not sure that was it.

"Maybe it was something you said."

"I just said that…"

"Wait!" I was looking at my hand. "Turn your hand toward the ground," he said quickly.

"Oh, right." I did as told. "I said that I feel awful, it makes me angry..." Nothing happened.

"I think you said something else…"

"Oh, yeah! I said that it made me furious," a bit of white had shown through my hand. But then I felt very weak, my head buzzing. My knees buckled and I could no longer stay standing. I sank to the ground, panting.

"Meghan! Are you OK?"

"Read me the story with the bunnies, Pipit!"

"What?" he cried.

"Monkeeeeeyyyssssss,"

Well, apparently that's what I said, according to Link. All I remember is that my head was spinning like teacups and my breath was shallow. I felt tired and drained, like I had just donated half my blood supply. My vision was blacking. I grabbed at Link. Couldn't think straight.

"Meghan! What happened?"

After a few seconds, my vision returned back to normal. I looked at him. "I think..." Sentence status: incomplete.

"Yeah...I think so too. Can you stand?" I shook my head. Link started freaking. "Uh..what should I do?" he asked. He was looking around.

"I'm hungry."

"Uh, yeah! Food, where do I find food? Oh! All right. Come on." I don't remember everything exactly, because I was very tired and perhaps had a bit of self-inflicted brain damage. But he told me what happened after that. Link helped me up, called his horse, put me on, and walked beside her. I was delirious, he said when we got to Kakariko, and I had a bit of some soup, cooked by a generous lady who lives in a tiny house she shares with the weary homeless. There was a dog trainer with some puppies there. I vaguely remember petting them.

Then, when Link had paid her (against the lady's will) we went outside. He said that I should sleep and we would have to wait until morning to go back in time, and Nabooru could wait one more day. I _must_ have been still slightly delirious, because I don't think I would have agreed otherwise. We climbed Impa's house and sat there to rest as the sun set in the distance.

* * *

"You know, Meghan," he began "I think there are two types of heroes. One fights, physically or verbally, for what they believe to be right. Some might even consider an evil man such as Ganondorf to be a hero, if that's what they believe in.

"But, the second type is one who lives their life enjoying it with others, helping others with whatever he can. He doesn't have to fight. I want to be a hero in the second way. Not this Hero of Time person. It is merely a title. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but I found so many friends along the way, on my journeys. They all inspire me. They are _my_ heroes. Some of...the closest I've felt to anyone sit here now." He paused, turning his head slightly toward her, but not looking at her. "I just want to help them in return. For now, I think it means I have to fight, but I don't always want to be this."

Meghan was surprised. She was glad he considered her to be such a good friend. "Thank you, Link, for everything you do. I don't know if people thank you enough." Maybe because they didn't know what he was doing, but he seemed to prefer his anonymity.

"I should be thanking you. I was so…alone before. It seemed like no one could truly _be_ with me. I don't know...my _mind_ was lonely, like no one understood the destiny I had to face. And no one understands how I feel so different. You are the only person I've _really_ talked to in a very long time. I guess because life handed you something so different as well. You're sort of my hero."

"Which kind?" she asked, and she giggled. She wasn't sure if she understood his whole "two types of heroes" thing. Maybe he was too smart for her.

"Hmmm," Link pondered, never giving an answer. He smiled too. Meghan yawned. It had been a very eventful day, and she was glad the end of it could be happy, though she wasn't sure about the meaning of his words. Was he saying these things because she was really a great friend, or did he mean something else by it? She honestly couldn't find anything special enough about herself that would justify his thinking, other than the fact that she had been given a little bit of an unusual destiny as well.

Despite her confusion, she could still count on him to be a good friend. She leaned her head on his shoulder, intending to stay there for only a moment. But he was so comfortable, and her eyelids felt so heavy. He was completely still as she did so, some sort of shocked feeling rushing through him. For a moment, he had to force his mind elsewhere because it was automatically going places he consciously wouldn't want it to go. After a moment, he relaxed. Her body gradually fell limp. He leaned her against his chest, not disturbing her for a few minutes.

"Good night," he whispered, looking out toward Death Mountain. "It was fate that brought us here, and fate that will take us both away."

Something was just…comforting about her there. He knew it was time to go, though, so he moved so that he could lift her. He picked her up, still sleeping and whispered, "_What did you do to yourself?" _Silently laughing, he brought her to Epona. She awoke at that point, but had no strength to move, her eyes half open. For a moment, she let herself go. Everything was hazy and beautiful and she couldn't find it in herself to protest.

He brought her back to the Kokiri Forest. She sleepily hobbled to Saria's house, his arm around her waist so he could act as a crutch. He was certain she had no idea what they were doing or where they were. He helped her lay on Saria's bed, and then he heard her snores again. He smiled, then left.

* * *

When I awoke, I was in Saria's house. Link was nowhere to be seen, nor was anyone else. I got up and changed into the first black shirt I wore here. I skipped the cloak, because it was warm outside, with spring-like weather.

I looked around for Link; he wasn't anywhere obvious. I didn't know where to look, so I asked a little Kokiri girl if she'd seen a tall boy, probably wearing red.

"I just saw him go to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow." She pointed.

"Thank you!" I followed her pointing finger there. Once I rounded the corner, I didn't see him at first, but then I spotted him near the corner of the meadow, near one of the deceased tree's large roots. There was a small mound that I didn't expect to be there, covered in grass. In front of it was what looked like a tombstone. He was kneeling next to it with his head bowed, looking quite noble. As I walked closer, he turned his head quickly. Seeing that it was only me, he gave me a sad smile. It was one of those smiles…I could see the sadness in his eyes, yet he forced that pathetic display of fangs on me.

He beckoned me to come over, and I really felt like a kid as I tottered to his side. I stared at the tombstone, and it was a sad sight. I could tell it had been there for a while, the greenery grown comfortably around it. It had no name on it. It was an empty grave with an empty name. Then I realized.

* * *

"It's…not…"

"Not what?" he asked as he stood.

"It's your…" Parents? Though he hadn't specifically mentioned them, she had gotten the idea that they were no longer around.

"It's my mother's." She looked at the grave. A bunch of freshly cut wild flowers, all of varied and vibrant colors, was laid at the foot of the tombstone. He saw Meghan looking at its blankness. "She never told anyone her name before she died." Meghan looked at him with sad, wide eyes. She clearly never knew his mother, but she felt the sadness surrounding the situation. She felt sorry for Link.

"Oh Link, I'm so sorry! How awful! I'm so sorry." Her eyes started to water.

"It's all right. I don't remember her," he said, flashing a crooked smile to make her feel better.

Meghan felt so sad. _How sad is it that they didn't even know her name? _

He interrupted her thoughts. "Let's go. I have to complete that temple today." He was all business then.

"Today?" Suddenly, she felt so sorry. _This poor guy, so much responsibility. So little time to himself..._

"Yes, today," he said, leaning on her shoulder and messing up her hair playfully.

"Hey, stop please!" She ducked out from underneath him and he fell forward.

"You're mean!"

"I am not!" she said in Hylian, surprising him.

"What? You just said that to me in _Hylian_!" Where had she learned that? He stared with baffled, wide eyes, for a moment.

"I _know_, Link. I meant to." A little something she'd picked up.

"How?"

"Come on. I guess I'm a fast student. I was pretty good in my French class, back home." She winked, saying her bragging words jokingly.

"What's that? French?"

"A language. They speak it in France. Which is another country. Far from the US, though."

"Oh. OK." He winked in return.

"You said, 'OK' for the first time!" She was just as surprised as he had been, considering she had noticed that "OK" was not a word they used in Hyrule.

"Yeah, I did…is that bad?" But he had deduced the meaning of the word, just as she had. He was certain he was using it correctly.

"No! I just didn't expect it! I like it."

"OK! I just assumed it was all right to say, since you say it so much."

"I probably say it way too much." She laughed.

Their happy conversation led them away from their sorrows. As they walked towards the exit of the clearing, Link walked closer to Meghan. She reached over and took his arm, linking it with hers. He looked at her, but she just leaned her head against his shoulder.

There were no words necessary between them. No matter how many languages known.

* * *

**OK, revelation. I really don't like first-person. Especially when it's my writing. It just looks so bland and informal. I'm going to try to rewrite this into my normal omniscient POV when I get a chance, except for a few small parts. -_- *sigh***

***story spoilers:**

**Free absolutely free to ignore this...! I want to mention the timeline of this story. As I'd always had it, the whole history part is supposed to take place over the course of about three weeks…I thought I just skipped over a lot of stuff, but when I actually went along with the details of the story and created a timeline, I realized that the most I feel I can logically stretch it is about 11 days O.o. **

**And then of course, that makes me think there's no way that they can fall in love so quickly (those eleven days plus the seven days they have left after defeating Ganondorf). **

**Although, it is possible to start _liking_ someone in that time frame. idk. Maybe if you spend every waking moment with a hot guy, it's easy (and if you're super attracted to quirky random-ass girls then I guess that's good too). :D So basically, ignore the technicalities. :D We'll just _pretend_ it takes place over a longer period of time…bwahaha. :D**


	14. Remix: History: Part Eight: Finale

**Sorry for taking so long, if you minded. It's finals week and I just finished my worst final yesterday so I finally have a little time to post! It took me so long to get through this chapter. ;_;**

* * *

Later that day, I was really embarrassed for myself. He hadn't exactly reciprocated the movement I made, linking our arms. He had just kinda held it there, as though he was afraid to touch me. What was I thinking? What did he think about me? I felt like an idiot. But I did wonder what he was thinking at that point.

* * *

Fuzzy.

I felt fuzzy. These weird fuzzy feelings. And I didn't know what to do. I was surprised. And then my brain became fuzzy. I hope she doesn't think that I was opposed to her actions…

* * *

Meghan and Link walked silently out of the clearing. Meghan let go of his arm once in view of the rest of the forest. She was embarrassed. Oh well.

"We need to tell Saria again," Meghan said, clearing the tension she _thought_ she'd felt.

"I'll contact her." They went through the whole procedure again.

When the sages had let her into the alternate dimension Temple of Time again, Saria came in yet again.

"Meghan." She said very calmly.

"Yes?"

"I saw you."

"You saw me? Doing what?"

"I saw what you did to Link."

"What did I do?" She grew scared, seeing Saria's completely serious face.

"Clouding the Hero's thoughts, shame on you!" Saria had spoke in such a serious tone that Meghan was scared. _Have I done something wrong? Are they going to hate me now?_ Meghan thought very worriedly, until she realized that Saria was suppressing a giggle.

"OK, what did I do this time?"

"Don't hide it, Meghan. You know you like him!"

"HIM? …what…? …no, I don't! What are you talking about?" There was no way. She hadn't even been here that long! He was a great friend, of course. Holding his arm? That was nothing she didn't do with with a guy friend before.

"The sages watch Link when he is supposed to be doing his job. _Which_ I noticed he wasn't. You're lucky _I_ was on watch duty."

"You guys are such perverts! He needs privacy too!"

"Calm down…it's just…" she started laughing.

"OK, but I still don't know what you're talking about." She said, even though now she knew perfectly well.

"Yes, you do." Meghan gave up and gave Saria a begging face.

"Please don't tell anyone! I regret it and won't do it ever again."

"Tell? Why not…I mean, why would I tell?"

"Saria!"

"OK, I was just kidding. What do you regret? It's not anything to regret. It's not like you k—"

"Saria! Please!"

"There's nothing wrong with it, Meghan. Believe me, I really understand."

Meghan frowned at her, the thoughts swirling in her head. "It's just…" she started hesitantly, trying to organize her crazy thoughts into understandable sentences, "I really don't think that he…wants me to do those things. He didn't really react when I held his arm…" She'd seen signs…but the world just was going in typical cycles. She was probably fooling herself, like every time before.

"Meghan, I don't even think you should be worrying about that. I see things—things that I believe are true, I have a certain foresight—so don't fret. You just do what you think is necessary."

Saria didn't answer Meghan's plea and instead said, "This conversation has gone on long enough. The others are probably worrying."

"Just…promise not to tell, OK?"

"Of course I would never tell. Just couldn't resist taking the chance to tease you."

Meghan gave her a fake glare. Then they laughed.

In the end, she really enjoyed Saria's company.

When she returned to Link, he was sitting along the edge of the steps leading to the Pedestal.

"Hi!" She skipped cheerfully to him, despite what just happened. "Oh COOL! NEW GOODIES!" Link was sporting a brand new pair of gauntlets. "These ones add pizzazz to everything!" Meghan said, giggling.

"What? Pizzazz? Should I ask?"

"Hmmm…it means…style, a flourish," she said in an exaggerated tone, emphasizing each word.

"OK…"

"Oh, and what is this?" she asked facetiously, looking behind him. "Master Sword wasn't good enough for you, was it?"

He had a different sword on. It was the Biggoron sword.

"Shh!"

"What?"

"The Master Sword might get jealous."

She giggled even more. "When did you get that?"

"I had enough time after I came back, when I was waiting for you."

"I was gone that long? SORRY!"

"Yeah, hours! That's OK. Epona and I had a nice trip. We had to go from Gerudo Valley, to Death Mountain, then to Zora's Domain, then to Lake Hylia, then all the way back to Death Mountain. And then when I tried to teleport the medicine got bad, so I had to do it all over again…"

"Hey, through your troubles, at least you got something in return."

"Yes, I suppose. And, I got something for you," he said taking a small backpack from…somewhere. It was made of cloth and colored black, and despite the fact that she was in Hyrule, it sort of looked like something from home. It reminded her of home.

"Thank you!" she cried, "but you didn't have to!"

"I just thought it would be good to carry things in." He forced it into her hands. She examined it, admiring his generosity. Then, she put it on over the sheath of her sword so she could reach the sword and it without problem. But she did not know until a bit later that there was something in it… "We should go."

As they walked, she asked, "So what happened in the past?"

He gave her a strained look "It was horrible…Nabooru, you know the woman in charge of the Gerudo? She was…taken prisoner because she opposed Ganondorf. Two witches, Koume and Kotake, put a spell on her. I can't imagine that she'd even been saved by now. It's horrible, just to think if she's been prisoner all this time. I can only hope that someone else freed her before I could."

"Oh…that's terrible…" she said. God, why did all this terrible stuff happen here?

He pulled out the ocarina and played the Requiem of Spirit. _Wow, I love that song._ Meghan thought as he played the beautiful melody.

"Whoo! Very hot here."

"Yes…are you OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Even though she actually didn't enjoy hot very much.

"We should get inside. It was cooler in there. But I want to take a small detour quickly."

"What?" Meghan asked, wondering why he'd delay.

"There is a Great Fairy. I would love to see her. She may provide something useful. She's over there," he said, pointing.

So, they rushed to that little place, found a way inside, (Which included a loud explosion) and stepped inside.

Link immediately knew what to do, having done so before. He played Zelda's Lullaby.

"Hahaha! I am the Great Fairy of…" But Meghan was not paying attention. She was in awe of the fairy's beauty, her scantily clad and curvaceous body appearing from nowhere. Her hair was bright pink flowed as she floated.

"…I will grant you a magic spell. Receive it now!" A light with a bluish tint shone around Link, giving him the magical abilities of Nayru's Love. "I see that the girl is here," said the pinkish-haired fairy, looking at Meghan under darkly shaded eyelashes. "This spell may work around two people, as long as you have twice the magic strength. You merely have to be in contact, just as your noble little fairy does." Navi, at this point, gasped and started to fly around Link's head.

"Oh, Your Grace is too kind!" The little voice said. "Thank you! You flatter me!" The great fairy chuckled at the comment.

"Come here, O noble Fairy Navi."

The Great Fairy lifted her delicate looking hands to under her mouth, palms under her chin, and blew a soft breeze at the little fairy. Navi began to glow, then became very sparkly.

"These bits of Hylian stars from our skies will change colors as you do." At her present color, color, they were silver sparkles. Navi turned herself green, the stars following her lead.

"Wooow!" Navi let out this exaggerated word. Meghan smiled. Navi was soo cute!

"Navi, may I see your great beauty?" Meghan asked. The fairy flew towards Meghan, and as she got there, she modeled her sparkly stars to Meghan, flying in little circles at eye level. "Navi, you're beautiful!" Meghan complimented, holding her hand out for the fairy to land in, as the little fairy turned an even brighter white. Her way of smiling. Meghan carefully noted her tiny face, which was round and childish but absolutely beautiful. Her wings sparkled as she absently moved them around and Meghan reached out to touch the sparkles on her wings gently. Navi giggled.

"That tickles!" she squeaked, falling onto her behind in Meghan's palm in laughter.

Link liked the sparkles, but he didn't see how it made the girls so excited. But the way Meghan was carefully studying Navi, his own fairy, made him notice the wonder she still had with such creatures. He thought she still might be fascinated by these things, since as she said, they didn't exist in her world. Most Hyrulens would probably even be fascinated.

The great fairy smiled in all her glory and continued, "Now, as I was saying, providing you have the proper amount of Magic, you may perform this spell. Also…" She looked at Meghan, who wasn't really paying attention because she was watching the little fairy show off her new looks, laughing with her. "Come closer." Link stepped to the edge of the fountain, and the Great Fairy came close to his face. He was surprised by her proximity. As she spoke, she did not expel air, rather she expelled energy and life. He felt light and entranced, and her large eyes stared straight through him.

"Protect this human. She will be very important, to Hyrule's future, and to yours." She whispered in his ear. "The gods have decided!" She moved back to her normal position. "Whenever you are battle weary, come back to see me! Hahahahahaha!"

The fairy shrank then disappeared. Link stood still, trying to comprehend what she had meant.

"Link, we should go."

Navi no longer wanted to return to her usual spot, tucked safely in Link's tunic. She flew around his head and flew everywhere else too. When she had flown so far she could not hear what Link and Meghan were saying, Meghan said to Link, "Link, she needs to calm down. If she's like that in the temple, you're going to have a hard time."

"Yes. Navi!" Link called, gently.

"Yeah?" She zoomed back to Link and stopped right in his face.

"Ah," he said, her brightness blinding him for a moment in fairly dark cave.

"Oh, right." Navi backed up.

"Anyway, Navi, can you calm down? We're going to need your help in the temple."

"Sorry, Linky-winky-"

"_Navi_!" he said, turning red.

"Oh come on. You never used to mind me calling you that." She put her hands on her hips and winked, her wing fluttering as she hovered in the air.

"Navi!" Link reached out and circle his fingers gently about her waist.

"AHHH! I'm being eaten by a Hylian, Meghan! Help me! Ah!" She prentended to struggle in his grip, but he wasn't actually holding her. "Meghan help!"

"Guys! Stop!"

They stopped struggling and looked at Meghan, who was suddenly serious. "We have business to attend to!" With that, Meghan stepped outside the cave, beckoning for the pair to follow her. All those stupid little monsters bombarded her, but she dodged them, clumsily drawing her sword.

She suddenly felt very homesick All these strange creatures, magical powers…theywere too much to take in sometimes. Link was following her, wondering what had her so serious suddenly. She was walking away in her own world. He drew his sword and deflected the monsters that came at her lazily.

"Navi, what happened to her?"

"I didn't do it. _You_ did it."

"What? I didn't even say anything."

"Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

"Hey! Meghan!" She didn't turn. He jogged to catch up with her, swiping at a baddie on the way. "Meghan." She turned her head so suddenly he almost jumped back.

"What?" she asked, almost sharply.

"What's the matter?" He stood dumbfounded at her sudden change in mood. She was being curt. "You seem…" he started, but he didn't know what to say to not offend her.

"I…miss home. Seeing you and Navi, being all childhood-buddy like makes me sad. I miss my friends and the things we used to do. And things are so weird here…" she shook her head. "Never mind, it's not important."

"Oh…Meghan, I'm sorry. I know we've been busy with all these temples, but I'm still looking for ways to get you back. I'm always thinking. I really want to help you get back."

He was lying. He knew why he was lying, and the lie was easy to hear in his voice. She heard the lie, and it was really obvious. She thought it was insincerity, that he was just saying that to make her feel better. She should have known better. He probably knew he couldn't send her back. Or maybe it was just a bother for him to be looking for a way.

But the reason why he was lying was that he realized he didn't want her to leave. How could he just let her go?

"It's OK," she said, pained. She would never get home. She switched herself around, refusing to worry anyone, if they cared enough to worry.

Meghan started smiling and skipping as she tried killing the passing monsters. Link stared. _Is she OK? _Navi was flying at Meghan's side.

Meghan and Navi entered the Spirit temple first, with Link right behind. He quickly rushed ahead of them, Navi flying to his side. Meghan looked over his shoulder to a place where they had been once before.

Link using his new sword on the monsters ahead, dispatching them in record time. Meghan was impressed. And she was, as always, glad she was on his side.

"OK," he said. "See you soon. Stay safe, all right?"

She nodded.

He looked at her for a second more, then let out a slow breath. He went up the few steps, hesitantly. She crossed her arms, looking around. She walked up to one of the snake-signs, looking upon its tons of Hylian characters. They meant nothing to her. She had no idea what it said. She turned her head toward Link.

He had walked up to a giant stone block seemingly set into the wall, and looked at it for a moment. Then he set his palms on it.

"No way," she said, shock running through her as she realized what he was about to do. She took a few steps closer, watching as he started pushing, the muscles in his arms stretching his clothes taught, and the block started moving. "Oh my god," she said.

Had his strength no limit?

He just kept going. He changed his position, using his shoulder to lean into the block. He just kept going, until the block fell out of nowhere, into a hole, opening a path for him. He stopped, breathing hard. He knew she was watching.

She had walked up the stairs to see where he was going. He turned back, still breathing hard.

Then he smiled. "I cheated," he said, holding up his arms, showing her his gauntlets. They glinted in the light.

"What?" she asked, not understanding how he could cheat.

He just laughed.

"What do you mean!"

"These gauntlets give me extra strength."

Wut.

"What! I totally though you were doing that on your own! I was standing here in awe of your magnificent strength, and it wasn't even you? Oh my god, you're such a little liar!" she yelled, jokingly. She was smiling, and he laughed hard.

"I can't believe you fell for that joke," he said, still laughing.

She marched right up to him, in the semi-dark tunnel he'd just cleared. She grabbed his gauntleted wrist. "What is this? How can this just happen? This doesn't even make any sense!"

"I don't know," he said, smiling. She let go of his arm, moving back, and threw her arms up.

"I do _not_ get this world." She marched back to the entrance of the tunnel. "I'll be here when you get back."

He smiled at her again. "All right, I'll try to be quick."

She smiled. "Yeah, hurry, Mr. Strong Hylian."

He turned and continued around the corner cautiously. She saw him toss a bomb, ducking behind his shield, but he soon disappeared.

* * *

She sighed, sat on the sandy steps, and waited.

She was on the other side of the front room, looking at the designs on the columns on the walls. She ran her fingers over the designs. She wondered just how long this temple had been here, who had built it, and what it was really used for. It seemed abandoned now, full of sand and neglect.

Then she heard a noise behind her. It was a slight buzzing noise, and it seemed to be coming closer, but she wasn't sure from where.

She freaked, pulling out the Kokiri sword, her heart beating and her stomach flipping over. She realized it was coming from above. She moved back against the wall, watching something descend…a block…

And riding atop it was none other than Link. He had a grin from ear to ear on his face as he hopped off the small platform, and it levitated back up into the ceiling.

"Hi," he said.

She just stared with her mouth open for a second, before saying, "You scared me."

"Sorry!" he said, frowning.

"Where did you come from?"

"The ceiling, apparently," he said. The platform came back down for a second, then went back up. "There's something I would like to show you."

"What is it?"

"Well, if you'll just step onto this, I'll bring you there."

She looked at the lowering platform with skepticism, but followed him onto it. She looked up, pulling her arms in close to herself as they floated upward. She jumped onto solid ground as soon as she found it. They were in a small room, but he immediately went around a corner to a door, lifted it, and her eyes were allowed to see what he'd wanted her to see.

It was that room, with the giant statue of the Goddess of the Sand at the front, the one he'd told her about. She stood, feeling miniscule, at its base, level with the goddess's knees. She stared up, several stories, to the pristinely decorated idol, complete with jewels that sparkled in the dim candlelight. She sat with palms outstretched, as though to welcome them. The walls behind and around her were inundated with more characters, completely covered.

"Come this way," he said, leading her to the side of the room. He indicated to a wall that had blocks sticking out here and there, perfect to climb. For him, anyway. She struggled up.

It was worth it. They jogged up some stairs to a platform at the top, level with the goddess's hands. She looked at it in all its glory, and it was amazing. She felt like she was visiting one of the ancient pyramids of Egypt. Or something.

"Meghan, stay safe here. I have to go," he said, standing behind her.

"What? You still have more to do?"

"Yes, I do. I'll be back to get you, I promise."

"OK…" she said nervously, looking around.

"This room is safe," he said.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll just investigate everything."

"All right, I'll be back soon."

He turned and left through another door. She sighed, putting her hands on the railing of the landing.

* * *

They had just rocketed into the face of the statue, or at least what used to be the face. It was kinda ruined now, but oh well. She looked at the door with a heavy lock in front of her.

"You shouldn't come in," he said.

"But…what if Nabooru is there? If she's there, we have to get her out, while you take care of those Koume and Kotake people."

He looked at her. He was glistening, not only with sweat but with the shining silver that adorned his new shield and gauntlets. The dark red of his tunic brought out the shocking blue of his eyes. There were tears in his clothes where he'd been attacked, and slight burns too. He hadn't looked so bad when he first brought her to the room with the statue, but when he came back, he looked like he'd gone through hell. His demeanor was still calm, though.

"I have a feeling…that is not what will happen."

"Then what?"

He looked at her, then stepped forward, opening the door with a large key.

"Let's be careful," he said, cryptically. Not objecting to her presence.

* * *

"Stay back," he said.

She nodded. She did _not_ want to deal with one of those things if it was not necessary, anyway. A fierce growl-like sound filled the room. The Iron Knuckles found its target, and walked forward. Once the monster was within striking distance, it struck with a grunt.

Link quickly evaded the blow with a swift backhand spring. ("How does he do that?" Meghan had always wondered.) Once he was upright again, he took a blind stab at the Iron Knuckles, slashing it in its armor. The Iron Knuckles barely realized this and struck again. Link once again jumped out of the way and stabbed it in different spots. This made it _angry_. It started going faster towards Link, each time only succeeding in getting hit itself. It knocked down a column in the room. Meghan shook, thinking of the force of its blows.

_God he's good. I wish I was that good. I don't think I'll ever be that good. Especially not with this little sword!_ She remembered the sword. She remembered that she should always have it out in enemy territory. But Link often had to remind her to draw it.

She concentrated on the battle, and Link's strategies and maneuvers. It struck, and just when Meghan thought Link would evade…

He didn't move in time.

It had struck him, knocking him completely back. _Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh oh my gosh!_ She thought as she started towards him.

"No, stay back!" he yelled, seeing her come into the monster's line of fire. "It's OK, it didn't hurt that much." He quickly stood, but with a certain extent of pain. He was breathing very heavily from the battle. But he had barely enough time to recover until the stupid monster came again. Meghan backed up as he hit it with one more blow…

Suddenly, the armor fell off. There Nabooru stood, shakily in its dust, woken up from command of the sisters. Her golden eyes were wide. She leaned sideways and Link rushed to catch her, her eyes closing. She said something to Link that Meghan couldn't hear from across the room. He let her go, and she stood weakly on her own. Nabooru took a step back, looking at the room around her.

Meghan was about to talk towards Link, but just then, Kotake and Koume appeared. They said something to Link, and then their hands filled with orbs of magic. They were aiming for Nabooru…

"Nabooru! Watch out!" Meghan screamed. She ran forward, trying to get past Link to get Nabooru out of the way. They fired. Meghan was almost there…

Then a hand gripped her arm, another wrapped around her waist, stopping her just before she got to Nabooru. Their magic hit the young Gerudo, and Meghan struggled against Link's grip as she watched Nabooru fall to her knees in pain, then she disappeared into thin air.

"No!" Meghan screamed. She tried to break free; she wanted to kill those…those _bitches_!

"Meghan, no!" he said. He held onto her still, pulling her close to himself so that her back touched his chest.

"A feisty one you got there!" Kotake said.

"Yes!" Koume agreed. Link shoved her behind himself, but still gripped her wrist in case she tried to go anywhere.

"If you want to save Nabooru, come fight us!"

"And don't let that little girl interfere!"

They were fading away. "Get back here!" Meghan yelled. Meghan let out an exasperated cry.

"Meghan, calm down! There's nothing we can do. I don't even know what that did to Nabooru. You could have been hurt!" She stopped pulling, looking at him, a tad belligerent. Then she sighed, looking upset. He pulled her into a gentle, brief hug. _The way she gave him motivation to go on…_

She looked up at him, and he let her go. She walked a few steps away, towards the door.

"We must now go to save Nabooru."

"Let's go, then."

"Meghan, they could be dangerous."

"Come on…" she said from the door.

"I think you should stay here. They won't show…any mercy."

"And why would we want them to? Tires them out more," she said, drawing the sword she used and inspecting it as though she didn't care what he said, but was really doing it to hide her face as she waited for her eyes to stop dripping. _The way he'd held her…_

"Meghan…really."

"You're not my boss. I am coming. I'm not weak." Lielielie.

"Meghan, please just listen to me. You'll stay outside the room, like last time."

"Why? Do you really think I'm that weak?" Link looked at her. The answer was a definite yes, but he couldn't say that. _What delusions did she suffer? Truly?_

"No. I just worry." She replaced the sword. She looked at him. He seemed sincere enough. It was true, he did worry. But she really had a tiny _fraction_ of the power most of the other people in his universe had.

"I want to help you," she said, her tone of voice convincing and unwavering.

"I don't want you to."

"Then let me cheer you on." Meghan looked up at him with one of those 'please' smiles.

He sighed. This was, against everything in his conscience, the reason why he'd brought her so far into the temple. When he felt like giving up, leaving, taking a break, he just had to look at her face and remember that this was what he was trying to save. He wasn't saving her if he was putting her in danger. But the temptation was too great. "You may come in, but you are not to enter anywhere _near_ the battle. Understood?" He stared very determinedly at her.

"Yes, sir!" she said enthusiastically.

He stared at her with a curious look on his face, almost smiling.

"You gave me so many orders, I mistook you for, you know, an army guy. Sorry."

"OK…" he dismissed her words. "Are you ready now?"

"Yeah."

"Come on." Meghan drew her sword.

"I told you that you won't be needing that."

"I don't recall you ever saying those exact words."

"Fine. But you _won't_ be needing that. So please don't get the idea that you will."

"You're the one who always tells me to have it out, just in case."

"I know! Just…." He took in a deep breath. "Don't interfere, please." He gave her an absolutely pleading look.

"Yes sir!" she said, saluting him. He walked forward towards the door. "Don't worry Nabooru, the Hero of Time is coming!"

"Hero of Time?" he asked, looking back at her. No one ever called him that. He was surprised.

"Yes. That's what you are. The Hero of Time." She smiled gently.

"I know that, but I'm just not used to being called it," he spoke almost absentmindedly as he walked towards the door. _Don't you remember?_ He thought, thinking back to that time when they sat on the top of Impa's was in front of the door. Meghan ran to catch up with him. It opened, and they entered.

As they walked slowly inside, the door closed loudly behind them, and Meghan let out a squeak of surprise and fear. Link, who was walking ahead of her, stopped and turned around.

"What?" he whispered.

She shook her head, trying to show she was fine.

"OK…" Meghan looked at him, and he looked back at her. Although it was time for him to do his duty, he desperately wanted to stay here. He didn't want to leave her here. He wanted her to know that she was important. "Meghan, I can tell this is going to be dangerous."

"How? No more dangerous than other things you've done, right?" She got a weird feeling from him.

"I don't know. But the outcome of this is unclear…usually I'm very confident when I fight near the end of a temple. Today…I'm not so sure."

"You can do this," she encouraged, smiling at him. "I know you can." And he smiled that sad, sad smile at her again.

"Thank you. But, just in case—"

Before he could finish what he was going to do, Meghan interrupted.

"In case? What do you think is going to happen? Are your thoughts that bad?"

"No, but I don't trust myself." And then he wondered what had caused him to say that. It wasn't something she should know. It wasn't something anyone should know…that the so-called "Hero of Time" was so insecure. Yet he also knew that somewhere in her mind, she knew this already.

"How do you not trust yourself? How can you possibly not? Do you have any idea how powerful you are? I trust you more than I trust anyone else I've ever met, because of who you are. And that's pathetic because I've known you for all of two weeks and you've known yourself for your whole life, except maybe seven years, and you can't even trust yourself! That's so crazy it's practically irrelevant! Not possible."

He sighed. "Well, I think it is _because_ of those seven years. I don't know who I am. I'm glad you do, but I'm still trying to find out. Nevertheless, you're right Meghan. I have no idea what I was saying." But the truth was, even if he did trust himself, he still doubted himself and he had to make sure everything was right if anything did go wrong. And he still wanted her to know she was important…(and maybe a reason to stay out of the way).

"But," he began in a more serious tone, "I want you to keep this for now, until the battle is over." He took her hand and deposited something in it. He closed her fingers around it. She looked down into her hand. A bit of blue showed from the side of her hand, and a mouthpiece with a Triforce engraved on it stuck out near her wrist.

"But…this is not mine! I'll lose it, I'll break it, and I'll do something to it!" Had he really just handed her this holy instrument? What? _Why_?

"No you won't, because I trust you." He smiled.

"Nobody really trusts _me_!" What the heck was he doing? Was this just some huge symbolic act, or did he really foresee that much failure?

"Then I guess I'm nobody."

She smiled at him, unable to ignore his corny play on her words. _OK then_. He paused for a second. "But if anything happens to me,"

"Goddesses forbid."

"I want you to play one of the temple songs, Minuet of Forest, Serenade of Water, anything, and get out of here as soon as possible. Find Saria—find any sage—and give it to them."

"That's not going to happen. But I'll take care of it for now." She winked, trying to give him confidence. _Just go already_, she thought. _You're making me nervous._"Good. Now, go kill some witches!" Rhymes with...

"Right." He walked away, towards the tall platform in the center of the room. He climbed it. And Meghan watched the whole way from the floor, squeezing the Ocarina of Time in her hand.

A cackling laughter filled the room.

"Look at that stupid kid!" Kotake said.

"He came to offer himself as a sacrifice to the great Ganondorf!" Koume added.

"I will do no such thing," Link said maliciously, turning into his all-business self. They ignored him.

"But…" they started, turning their attention to Meghan on the ground. "We said she was not to interfere. Should we sacrifice her first?"

"You won't."

"You can never trust little Hylian girls these days."

They prepared to fire at her, just as they did to Nabooru.

"Meghan, watch out!" he yelled. The magic balls were heading towards her in slow motion.

_They're coming oh my god what do I do?_ She jumped to the side, fell on the floor, and rolled awkwardly. They exploded, just missing Meghan. She was sitting on the floor, breathing hard. _Man, that was close! _ She sat there, and looked up at Link. He seemed really angry. She stumbled over towards the platform, out of the twin witches' view. Why had she decided to come? This was too crazy for her liking.

"Your fight is here, with me _Leave her out of this_!" It was scary to Meghan. He had never yelled like that…just the way his voice echoed throughout the room made it seem full of power. It was confident. He could do this.

He positioned himself, his shiny Mirror Shield on his arm and Master Sword in his left hand.

"_I won't fail,_" he whispered, determined to keep her out of harm's way. This battle was different because the people he was fighting were just that—people. Not monsters with no humanoid qualities. But these witches were more dangerous. "_I promised._"

Their cackling began again as they attacked. Link reflected Kotake's attack at Koume. He fought them with such ferocity that Meghan became scared of his pugnacious side, the side with the sword and the fighting skills. He seemed to be doing well, giving the witches a good beating for all they had done. They grew angrier and angrier until they fused into a huger, more ugly monster, Twinrova.

He swung the sword in a circle. The first attack it fired was fire, so he charged that one on his shield. The next one was fire as well. But the third was ice. He jumped to the side, all the way on the edge of the platform.

Meghan was surprised that he figured out what to do so quickly. But it didn't seem too challenging, for someone of his strength. They didn't attempt to knock him away when he was charging up his shield. They basically let him do what he wanted, and as long as he avoided being hit, he was pretty golden. She wondered how he could ever doubt himself.

The fourth thrown was another fire. His shield, which was shining with the power it had absorbed, reflected the attack back at Twinrova. It fell with a shriek onto a side platform opposite Meghan. He charged at it, sword in his hand. He jumped over the gap and stabbed it, then slashed it twice more before it was able to get up.

"Yeah!" Meghan cheered, jumping up and clapping while walking around, trying to see what he was doing. He jumped back to the center, once more targeting with the help of Navi. He charged up on fire again. Twinrova fell again, this time he became even fiercer. He slashed the monster. He slashed again. Then again. Meghan winced. She did _not_ ever want to be on the receiving end of that sword.

Twinrova recovered again. He hit his shield with an ice this time. It started shining again. Twinrova fired a fire attack. He went to evade. The thing grew a brain.

Just as it was about to fire, Twinrova redirected the attack where Link had jumped. He stepped in the burning flames. He let out a cry in agony. Meghan watched in horror as he stepped out of the fire, smoke rising to the sky far above. He looked to be in pain. He wavered, weakened, his legs taking most of the burns.

"Link!"

He tried to recover from the burning. He stood, but only to greet yet another attack. This one was ice. He froze, half standing. "Link!" She screamed again, a hoarse cry tearing from her throat, tears forming in her eyes. He had been doing so well until this moment. _Battle is so dangerous. One wrong move and…_

I have to help him! But…he had kept his promise until now, as best he could, so I must keep mine. He'll be fine. I know he will…

He finally broke free, after what seemed like an eternity to Meghan. He shivered. He stood for a second, unstable and wobbly, but standing squarely toward Twinrova, his shield held up. His body was not taking the extreme weather conditions well. Twinrova rushed forward, knocking him with her staff. He cried out, falling to the floor.

"_**Link**_**!**" She screamed with all her might. "Get up!" He seemed to be conscious, but unable to move. He was near the edge of the platform, so Meghan could see him even though he was on the ground. He was twitching, trying to get up. She could see his hands moving to push himself upward, but he seemed to not have enough strength to get up.

"Get up Link! Come on! I know you can!" Tears once again formed in her eyes. He must have heard her. Adrenaline rushed enough for him to get up, just enough. Twinrova rushed to him again, ready to attack.

Twinrova seemed to enjoy his suffering. Before he had time to get his shield in place, it fired another fire attack. He let out a sort of cry in surprise and pain.

_This can't go on any longer. There's got to be something I can do! They'll keep doing that; they won't give him a chance to even stand if they are allowed to. Where is the fairy he has in a bottle? Isn't that supposed to help?_

Link was again on the floor. He had fallen…

"Link! You're not supposed to fall!" she screamed. She kept screaming, whether it was registering in is head or not. She ran forward, climbing…

"Meghan! Link told you to go away if anything happened!" Navi squeaked, from her spot on Link's head. Meghan ignored her protests.

"Link, get up!" But then she heard a faint voice.

"No. Stay back, I'm OK," Link said as he pushed himself up with shaking arms. He saw him stand.

"Just one more hit!" Twinrova roared. "Then Ganondorf will be very happy!"

"Touch him and you'll have to go through me!" Meghan yelled as she drew her sword. She climbed up so she could just see over the top of the platform.

"Oh, we're terribly scared!"

"You don't have time to be scared!" Link yelled as he charged at it, his sword in both hands. It had made a very foolish mistake of hovering too close to the ground.

He slashed it, and before Meghan realized what he had done, a head was rolling on the floor.

"Wow, that was anticlimactic." Meghan said, becoming nauseous. She finished climbing the rest of the way up. Link stood in front of her.

Twinrova defused into Kotake and Koume again.

"Aaah! What happened to us?"

"I don't know!"

"This stinks…"

"Yeah…hey, Kotake, what's that over your head?"

"Huh? I don't know…you have one too!"

"We're not dead, are we?"

"I'm afraid so…" They floated up…hey wait, why are they going up?

"That doesn't make sense..." Meghan said as she observed the direction they were floating. "In a way. Hey, are you OK?" she asked, walking around him to see his face. His head was bowed, looking down at the ground.

"I…almost failed," he whispered. He looked up.

"No you did not. Just because there was a minor glitch in your fighting does not mean you ever were going to fail. It was your destiny to beat them, your destiny to _not_ fail." She was playing on his whole conviction that everything is destiny…she wasn't sure if she believed it, but it seemed to work for him.

"If you had not been here…"

"I didn't do anything. Well, actually I did everything. If it hadn't been for me, you would not have been fighting the way you were."

"But I…"

"Shh," she said, putting her finger to the level of his lips, a smile on her face. "You did _not_ fail. You did not. What happened happened. And you didn't. It does not matter what happened in the past, but the future." She removed her hand, a revelation growing inside her. She stared thoughtfully at him as he gave her a questioning look. Her voice grew quiet. "And I just contradicted myself by saying that. I am not homesick anymore. I will not…you know, mourn for the past, or whatever. Only remember."

She looked into his eyes. They looked more relaxed now, not troubled because of what almost happened.

"Now we have more import things to do. Are you all right?" She inspected him. He seemed to be OK. There was a large rip where the Iron Knuckles had hit him in his tunic, a small cut on his left ear, and various burn marks around his knees and clothes, but he was hanging in there. "Does it hurt?"

He shook his head. "I am all right. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine of course! A bit grossed out, but nothing too serious." She smirked, reaching out to pat the side of his arm. "I'm glad you're OK."

They looked at each other for a second. He suddenly had a moment to think about the day. The way she depended on him, but still had her independent ways. He thought of the way he had wrapped his arm around her waist earlier to hold her back, and remembering the feel of her body made butterflies fly into his stomach. _Really, he'd never touched a girl like that before._ Her face was so innocent as she looked at him. Sometimes, he didn't really think of her as a girl. She was just that quirky person who came out of nowhere, his really good friend. But sometimes…it was so blaringly obvious. He had to stop thinking about her, though, or else he was sure he would turn red.

"Uh, Nabooru is waiting. We should go," he said, breaking the staring and the silence.

"Of course." They walked toward the blue gem-shaped thing on the side platform.

"That feels better," he said as they entered the blue thing, the healing magic Twinrova left behind helping him to be even stronger.

**In the Sacred Realm**

"…Take this, the Spirit Medallion!" Nabooru raised her hands above her head, and a shimmering bronze-colored Medallion came from the sky, floating to Link's hands. Link took it, but from there, what he did with it was a mystery…because within a few seconds they were bathed in white lights, covering everything they saw. They only heard Nabooru say:

"If only I had known how handsome you would become…" (Gag from Link)

"That was wrong…" Meghan said as soon as they were back from the Sacred Realm, trying to relieve the embarrassment. She walked a few steps, making it look like she was going to throw up, holding her stomach and making gagging sounds. Link chuckled.

"Oh, wait, don't step off the…too late." A bunch of monsters appeared. Meghan giggled insanely as she swatted at the monsters very lightly. You know when you laugh too hard and you can't do things properly? Yeah... She ended up giving up and jumping back to the platform, skipping over them.

"Dude, I am _so_ wiped out," she said after giggling for a while. With one last sigh, she stopped.

"There's someone waiting at the Temple of Time for you," Navi said.

"Really?" Link asked. "How do you know?"

"Rauru told us just before we came back here."

"We were too busy barfing," Meghan said.

"We should go and see them…who is it…?"

"I don't know!

"Come on Link," Meghan said, giving him a hard pat (More like a hit) on the back that sent him lurching forward. "I wonder who it is."

They both had a feeling though. He'd awakened all the sages. There was that one person who always appeared before and after.

"Maybe it's a monkey!" Meghan yelled, hopping around Link on the platform.

"Meghan, did you like…you're crazy today." _Mood swings _he thought. "… But I don't know."

"I'm curious, let's go!"

"OK, OK. But you have my ocarina."

She held out the ocarina. She played the Prelude of Light. Within seconds, they were at the Temple. They stood for just a second, absorbing the usual two-second shock after teleporting.

"Nobody's here." Then, as if to answer his call, a figure appeared suddenly before them.

"Hero." Sheik was before them, standing in their way of the exit of the Temple. She paused for a few seconds. "Through all the legends, through all the prophecies, never has this been foretold."

"What would that be?" Link inquired as Navi and Meghan listened carefully.

"The hero never had a human helper," she said, indicating with her palm facing up towards Meghan. "Only a fairy helper. The gods of our worlds collided, in an argument that may have ended up saving Hyrule."

"Where is that from?" Meghan thought aloud. Where had she heard that same thing…the gods had a fight…where? Then suddenly she remembered hearing that godly voice…

_"I am sorry for the trouble caused…let it be known that the gods will never fight again." … _

_ "I will take back the trouble caused for you…the girl…" …_

_ "It was foolish of me to think that a human girl could cause trouble in your world. You have such great heroes…though, mine at the moment has none." …_

_ "Fine. I shall allow her to stay, providing she does not show you any trouble. Then, and only then, she must leave. Thank you, Goddesses of Hyrule, Nayru, Din, and Farore…"_

"That was…from my dream that day I came here…Dude, I didn't even remember that until now."

"You had the same dream?" Sheik asked. Link looked at her. Zelda mentally slapped herself for asking that out loud.

"You have dreams that foretell things?" Meghan asked to cover for her. Sheik was quick to respond.

"The Sheikah have long been favored by the gods. There is an old Sheikah legend that tells of the ancient tribe and how the gods helped them…but while on the subject of ancient Sheikah legends…" Sheik paused for a second, then continued. "Yes, I must share with you the legend…" Sheik shared the legend of the Triforce and its keepers. She told of what would happen if evil took the Triforce, and what would happen if a pure person took it.

"The holder of the Triforce of Power is obviously Ganondorf. Because he is evil, the other pieces went to others. The holder of the Triforce of Courage is…you! Link, you are the one destined to hold it."

He stepped, back, surprised, his mouth open. He…he had a part of the _Triforce_? Link's hand shone with a golden triangle, the lower right triangle glowing. He stared in surprise and wonder, his mouth hanging open. "And the Triforce of Wisdom…"

"Of course…" Link said, realizing who. But he didn't expect what came next. Sheik crossed her hands, left on top and a Triforce showed. With a small 'hah!' sound, a screen of light came around Sheik as she transformed.

Standing before Link was Princess Zelda. She stood, head bowed down and hand held up delicately so he could see the Triforce clearly on her hand. She looked up slowly, and then curtsied. It was the first time Meghan had seen her in person, and she was beyond breathtaking. In fact, every girl she came across in Hyrule was beautiful, but Zelda had a very special glow about her. Her features were angular and her eyes were large and wise. Her eyebrows were curved just so she looked very analytical, but everything about her screamed polite, sweet, and special. A woman certainly chosen by the goddesses (or descended from one).

Link gasped. He looked from her to Meghan, then back to Zelda. "Princess…Zelda? Meghan, did you know?"

"Nooooo…" Meghan smiled and looked up into the sky, the picture of fake innocence. Zelda suppressed a chuckle, putting her Triforce-engraved hand to her mouth.

"It seems as if everyone was plotting against you and your fairy, Link. However, with seriousness, there is work yet to be done! A terrible power is about us."

"I know…" Link said.

"But we mustn't despair, for although a great evil walks the earth at the time, it shall soon be gone! Link, with that sword, and one other thing, you will be able defeat him!"

"What else is there?" Link asked. Zelda stepped forward. She used her magic, and some arrows appeared above their heads. They lowered into Link's hands.

"These are the Light Arrows! They, along with your sword, are weapons of evil's bane," she said, looking over towards Meghan. "Yes—"

Then Zelda froze and gasped.

"Heh, heh…heh…" An evil laugh sounded. "I knew if I let this kid run around for long enough, he would lead me to you, Princess Zelda!" Link looked around, drawing his sword, unable to find where the voice was coming from. "Looks like I underestimated the strength of this kid. No, the Triforce of Courage. This kid has no power."

"No!" Meghan yelled. She had been watching Zelda as Link looked around. "Princess Zelda, watch out!" Meghan said, noticing a strange wave of color in front of Zelda. But she was too late. A pink bubble formed around Zelda. "Zelda!" Meghan cried. Link ran up to it and banged on it, then punched it with all of his might. Zelda, with a scared look on her face, looked at him, and shook her head.

"If you want your princess, come to my castle."

Zelda made a small sound, a gasp, then fell limp in the bubble.

"No!" Meghan yelled, distraught, running a few steps to the door. "No, I can't believe myself…" she ran back to Link. "I saw that thing around her…"

"I should have done something. It's ok, Meghan, we can save her."

"Let's go, oh my god, he's going to hurt her!" There were tears in her eyes. "Link, what is he going to do? He could kill her!"

"No, Meghan, don't worry. He wouldn't kill her. He wants her Triforce."

Meghan and Link ran out of the Temple to Ganondorf's castle. They ignored the redeads, who Meghan was no longer afraid of. Well, a bit. They reached the castle, and even almost entered it. The sages called from above, putting their power together to make a bridge across the deadly lava for them, but then Link remembered.

"Meghan, we just returned from a Temple. I have no arrows, and other supplies either. We won't get far without them. I need to get some very quickly."

"We can get them in there," Meghan said, walking a few steps onto the bridge. She couldn't let Zelda wait…she was scared to death of what could happen.

"But we might not be able to find everything…" He knew rushing into battle unprepared would be worse than showing a bit late.

"I'm sure you can…"

"Please, let's hurry." Link played the Nocturne of Shadow, teleporting to the graveyard. They jumped down from where they were and ran fast past all the Poes. They hurriedly went to one of the potion shops, and taking the back door got to the second one. They got two bottles of blue potion, one for Meghan, and one for Link. When Meghan went to put the Potion in her backpack, she noticed something shining on the bottom.

"Link, what's this?" She said, pulling out a small knife, the blade no bigger than her hand. Its hilt was red, like the stone on the Kokiri sword. It had a small sheath even.

"A knife."

"OK…thank you." She tucked it in between her hip and her pants, where she could draw it easily, but the sheath would not come out.

"Now we have to find arrows, and some bombs might help…"

"Where can we get them really fast?"

"They sell some at the bazaar…"

"That will take way too long!"

"We don't have any choice," he said with a slight snap, getting annoyed. How could she question him? It wouldn't even take that long.

She was genuinely frustrated with him. She felt nervous about Zelda, a terrible sinking feeling in her gut. _He's so stupid! Zelda's in trouble!_

"Do we have time?" She could tell that he too wanted to hurry, but he was not exactly rich at the moment (Especially when they needed it) and they needed these things to fight. They were already halfway out of Kakariko.

"Meghan, it doesn't even matter. I don't want you coming with me. This is one battle you absolutely cannot be near, do you understand that? You should just stay here. Let me do what I need to do, alone."

"I _know_!" Meghan said as they ran out of the village. She could feel tension mounting between herself and Link. She was so mad…if he was just not so picky, and careless, this would not have happened. But he was just ignoring her. He bought his things. When they reached the field, Link was going to call Epona. But he remembered that Meghan still had the Ocarina…

"Meghan, I need the Ocarina."

"Are you going to go to Zelda?"

"I need Epona."

"No you don't!" Meghan snapped.

"Yes I do!"

"Zelda is in trouble, and I'm not going to stand here and wait!"She felt angry with him at that moment, and for some reason didn't care if she was hurting him by yelling at him, by basically accusing him of not caring enough to save Zelda.

"Meghan, we need to get the supplies before we can just barge in and fight him! I cannot go into battle with nothing. That will not help anyone!"

"I'm going, whether you come or not!"

And with that, Meghan played the Prelude of Light and warped to the Temple of Time, taking his Ocarina with her.

* * *

"Heh heh heh…" Meghan chuckled. How foolish she once was. She could never be angry with him! And his thinking had, again, saved their lives. He wasn't impatient and didn't rush into things, thought before he acted. Sometimes that was the opposite of herself, she thought.

So much reminiscing gave her so many laughs. So many times…it was hard to believe it could be almost over.

She moved herself into a comfortable position, and relaxed into a deep sleep.


	15. Remix: Day Two: Nabooru

**Hello! I'm very sorry for the long wait. I dunno why I took so long O.o. Anyways, I had this big whole spiel thing I was thinking about yesterday that I wanna share. I hope I remember it. Here comes some theorizing/explanation! (after I typed this I realized it was long, so really if you don't want you shouldn't read it. XD) **

**So basically the thing is that I've always thought this, and I've also seen it around a lot lately, people saying this. I really believe that out of all the Link reincarnations, Ocarina of Time (the Hero of Time) Link had the worst life. Parents died before he could know them, he grew up "different" in the Kokiri forest (didn't have a fairy!) (Though, aside, I always wondered how he didn't realize he was different sooner…don't all the Kokiri stay the same age? He must have grown up while he knew them. Unless Kokiri are just randomly born sometimes. Anyway…), forced into a destiny at a very young age, but in the end he couldn't even do it so he had to be locked in the Sacred Realm for seven years, missing his childhood and waking up all grown up, then he had to save the world. He has an undying sense of duty. Whenever I think of this, I always feel extra motivated to give him the best life I can in this story, to have Meggie make him as happy as she can. :) When they say that they saved each other, I really do mean it, but I really do think she saved him more than he saved her.**

**Can you imagine? I always think of what Link was going through when he first met her. If you recall, he was in the middle of the Water Temple. I imagine he had just battled Dark Link. His dark half. Can you imagine the thoughts going through his head? This taunting, evil figure of himself. One wrong move, and he could be just like this malevolent entity. He knew his every move. Defeating him was probably the biggest challenge he'd faced yet. This really bothers him. He doesn't like to imagine himself evil. He leaves the temple, distraught, but with no one to really communicate his frustration to. Then, he sees her. Out of nowhere. But she'd in a bit of trouble, she's confused not unlike himself. And he realizes that this is what he is doing. He is there to save the people, just like her. She becomes a motivation for him, the face of the people. Suddenly the world is not so daunting. **

**OK teehee, I totally just have no idea why I needed to share that, but there you go. Thanks for reading if you did! :) Anywayz, here is the chapter! **

* * *

**Day Two**

Meghan's eyes opened to see the light streaming in through Saria's window. It made a rectangle on the floor, stretching across the room. She sat up and yawned, eager to start the day. She got off the bed and went to change her clothes. She sighed, her favorite shirt, the one she wore the day she came to Hyrule, was gone. It was probably ripped and too bloody for her to even want it back. It was the one she had worn when she fought Ganondorf. She didn't even know what had happened to it, because she had woken up two days ago wearing a thin, white and frilly shirt and white pants. Her gloves were goddesses know where, and they, too, were probably not something she wanted to wear. The first pair of black pants was gone too.

She put on her second black shirt and her jeans. She looked at herself in the mirror. She reconsidered. She pulled off the black shirt, and replaced it with the white shirt. She had actually never worn it before, and now that she did, she liked it the best. She looked at herself in the mirror, and although she looked tired and worn, she liked the way she was looking right now.

She tied her hair back into a ponytail, considering the place they were most likely to go. She was gonna make him go there whether he wanted to or not. She left a strand of her bangs in her face. She looked over to where all her clothes were, just a few, but enough to live with. Underneath all the black clothes, she noticed a bit of white. Completely forgetting what else she had there that was white, she made a face and pulled the black shirt off of the white. She saw the white gloves. She hadn't worn them either. She rolled up her sleeves, then pulled them on, then rolled the sleeves back down.

She examined herself in the mirror again. She was skinnier than before she came to Hyrule. She was also hungry, so she took some of Saria's bread and fruit from her tiny kitchen.

She almost put the Kokiri Sword on, but decided not to. What could possibly happen? Instead she just equipped the pocketknife.

She set out, in search of Link. She took a quick look around the forest. Not wanting to climb the ladder into his house, she called up into his house a few times, but got no answer. Normally he'd be there. _I wonder where he is. Well, I'm not too worried, considering all the monsters should be gone. What kind of trouble could he possibly get into?_

After not finding him right away, she went to the Great Deku Tree's clearing. He was not there either.

_Hmm, maybe he went out of the forest._ She was going to leave the forest, but then she walked by his house. She decided to brave the ladder. She felt better today, so it was not bad.

She paused to catch her breath, but then she laughed silently at the sight she saw. _Well, that's a first. _He was _sleeping_.

That was kind of scary too. She'd never seen him sleep before. Navi had been sitting on the window sill, and she flew to Meghan.

"He fell asleep so quickly last night! It was so weird! He's been sleeping so long! You should wake him up! I can't. He never listens to me!"

She went up to him and kneeled on the floor beside his bed. She gently shook his shoulder. "Wake up, Link! Get up, sleepy head!" she called quietly. He was quiet for a second, and then slowly his eyes opened. He blinked a few times, taking in the sight before him. He felt peaceful, rested, and…different. He wanted to sleep _more_. It had been such a long time since he'd really slept, and it felt addicting. But she was awake next to him.

"What…" he said, sitting up. He looked down at her, and she stood.

"Come on, Mister Hylian! Time to go places! Do things, see people!"

As he pushed the blanket from his body, she noticed that he was wearing a short sleeved white shirt that she'd never seen before. His well-toned arm muscles were visible and he smelled fresh, reminding her of laundry detergent. Her stomach flipped and she moved away from him.

"Oh, right, right," he said tiredly, yawning and rubbing his eyes, showcasing those arms... "OK." He really wanted to go back to sleep…

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I want to see you in your Goron tunic, and comb your hair!" she commanded. Not that he really needed to comb his hair.

"Where are we going?" he asked, getting of his bed achily. He hadn't slept in such a long time…

"We're going to go where you told me we were going to go yesterday!"

"Where was that again?" He was still half asleep.

"If you don't remember, you'll just have to wait and see…" she said. "Bye." She beckoned to Navi, who beamed and followed her.

"Yeah, but—" but she was already out the door.

Meghan scuttled down the ladder carefully. She skipped out to the small waterfall near the middle of the forest. She went to the shallow part of the water, and put her hands underneath the clear, clean water. She cupped her hands and filled them with water, then brought it to her mouth. The cool water was refreshing. She shook her hands dry, looked around, and planned.

"So, we're going to the desert…hmmm…"She thought of what she should do there.

"Bring some water!" Navi said joyfully, sitting on her shoulder. As she filled an empty bottle with water from the waterfall.

"I don't know what we'll do there," she said softly to Navi. With just these six days left, what they were going to do seemed like a big matter to her. She had no idea what to do, so she decided that it would be best to just go with whatever happens, as she learned to do a lot around here. She thought she wouldn't mind exploring that temple again, now that the monsters and crazy witch ladies were gone. She put the now full bottle in her pack, pulling out her other bottle and filling that with water too, for Link.

She walked back to Link's house.

Just as she reached it, he came out. He jumped down from the balcony, in a Goron tunic.

Just as she was noticing his new clothes, he noticed hers. "You have not worn that shirt before. Or those gloves, for that matter."

"No, I haven't. Nice observations," she said, freaked out. _He sure notices a lot of things. _"Why do you have your sword?" She was certain he didn't need it anymore.

"I don't know. It's just sort of an automatic habit for me…it's been a while since I _haven't_ had a sword with me all the time. But I didn't bring any other weapons, I swear!"

"Haha OK. How was your nap, anyway?" she asked teasingly.

"Hey! I was tired! I think that after everything, I could have a bit of a rest."

"Yes. You're right. I've just never seen you sleep before. You looked really at ease. Sorry I woke you. I was just excited."

"It's fine," he said, dropping the subject. He just gave up with her. Sometimes he wondered what where she came from was really like, why she was so strange to him. But of course, understanding her was like a whole new challenge, and he could never pass up a good challenge. They walked out of the forest in silence at a normal pace. Meghan waved to all the little Kokiri girls as she passed. They all looked at her in what seemed like awe as they exited the forest. They also crossed the bridge in silence.

When they had reached the field, Link was going to call Epona. But when he started to reach in his pocket, he remembered.

"Oh, that's right," he said slowly. "Zelda has the Ocarina of Time now." He sighed.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't be completely deprived of your music." Meghan said, smiling. She took the Fairy Ocarina out of the backpack.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot you still had it!" He took it from her offering hand. He held it for a second, remembering the feel of the instrument from his childhood. He slowly brought it to his lips, and then put it back down.

"This means we can't warp anymore."

"We'll make do. You _do_ have a horse, don't you?" She smiled. He smiled too.

"OK. You convinced me." He brought the ocarina to his mouth again, and played Epona's Song. A few seconds later, cantering could be heard in the distance. They walked from the narrow place leading to the forest to the field, and saw Epona cantering towards them.

"Hello, Epona," Meghan greeted. "How are you today?" Epona let out a shrill whinny. "What was that supposed to be?" she asked Epona as she gently stroked her velvety nose.

"That's her way of saying 'good.'"

"You speak her language, don't you?" Meghan joked.

"Well, sort of."

"Come on, Fairy Boy! You've known her for a while." Meghan called him by his nickname. She had a lot of them for him by now, like Mister Hylian and Fairy Boy…

Meghan giggled. She mounted the horse, doing it the way Link did (she'd gotten some practice).

"We'd better get going. Nous avons aller. Maintenant."

"Yeah, well， 我们要去沙漠巨像," he rattled in Hylian. She looked at him skeptically.

"Do you even know what I said?" she asked, looking at him all squinty eyed.

"Do you know what _I_ said?"

"I asked you first."

"OK, no, I don't know."

"I said we have to go, now."

"OK, and what did I say?"

"You said something to do with going somewhere…to the cow?" She had completely made that up.

"No." he said. "That's not what I said. Believe it or not." He rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"OK. You must have said something to do with where we're going."

"Most likely," he agreed sarcastically.

"You said we have to go to the…the…the…I have no idea."

"To see a desert colossus."

"That's what you said?"

"Yes."

"That's cool. So you finally figured it out? A desert colossus." She repeated, taking in the beautiful flow of the words. She remembered the place so vividly…it was several days ago now that they'd been there.

"Shall we go?" he asked, hoisting himself into the saddle. She nodded. She thought of how they were always procrastinating, whenever they were going to go somewhere. It always turned into a conversation before they actually got anywhere.

Meghan listened to the rhythmic sounds of the beating of Epona's hooves…it made her sleepy. She sat, feeling the up-and-down movement of the trot Epona had started off with. In a few seconds, Link pushed her into a canter, though no faster because it would be too much for her. It was kind of hard to talk while on a horse, because the continuous bumping made their voices all distorted so they had given that up a long time ago. So they rode in silence.

But, it was not only the sound of Epona's hooves; it was that they had no idea what to talk about. I mean, what do you talk about when you have a possibly limited amount of time? That is exactly what they were wondering. Conversation never really came easy to Meghan…and Link just plain had nothing to say.

Eventually, the silent ride became unbearable to Meghan, as her thoughts started to drive her crazy. She had been thinking just normal things that a girl would think about. But then her thoughts led her to the day she had left…and wondered what she would do if she had to return to her old life. She missed everyone in her old life, the human ways and _technology._ Ah, technology. Her email was probably piling up, and oh, the simple laziness of a telephone! How she missed it. But upon realizing what she was thinking, she remembered. She was not to mourn for the past, only remember. And she did remember. But at this point, she had no idea which side to take on the matter. Did she want to stay? Did she want to go back? What would she do? She gave herself a worst-case scenario situation. If given the choice, would she decide to stay, or go back? She made a list of good and bad things on both sides:

_Good things about staying here: Link…Zelda…Saria…the rest of the sages…the beautiful fields, Link, the swords, the bows…the people…my best friend, the whole land of Hyrule is beautiful, much better than the polluted place I live in. They're so lucky they don't have technology; it messes everything up even if it is quicker. But magic makes up for what they don't have in tech._

_Good things about leaving: Mom, dad, brother, my friends, and my family, technology, cars, phones, indoor showers and toilets…_

_That's it._

She realized she might have more on her list for Hyrule, but maybe that was because she was generalizing on the other list. But it made her almost cry again, imagining never seeing her parents again. The idea was so ridiculous. It was almost like they had died, and she absolutely could _not_ bear that thought. She didn't want to think that way. She didn't want to think of what it was like for them when they discovered she was missing. Would the god of Earth relieve their pain? And some rational part of her felt angry at that god, for both taking her away from her home and putting her here, and for making her existence here so confusing.

She was assimilating into the Hylian culture, totally feeling the whole medieval thing. She even adopted their religion. She hadn't even believed in gods before this experience. But she was pretty sure they were real now.

Before she knew it, they were crossing over from the grassy fields into a bit of sand, then the dessert.

They crossed over the tiny makeshift bridge, and then over the newly built bridge over the raging river. As they crossed, Meghan braced herself and looked down. She had never really done that before. She became really scared, it was so far down! She stopped looking and tightened her grip on Link.

They had at last reached the Haunted Wasteland.

"So…I wonder where Nabooru is."

"I was hoping you could answer the same question," Meghan responded.

"Now, why would you be looking for her?" a voice said. Meghan and Link looked in the direction it came from. They looked out into the Haunted Wasteland.

"It's her," Meghan said. Through the raging winds of the sand storms just before them, a figure appeared, walking towards them. She was wearing a sheer cloth over her mouth and nose to block the sand out. Her light, buoyant clothing was blowing in the winds of the storms, her red hair in a high ponytail drifting midair. Her nose was long and characteristic, but her ears were the same shape as Meghan's.

She chuckled softly. "Hello, Hero of Time," Nabooru said with no sign of interest at all. "Just peachy to see you again." Nabooru walked over to Meghan with elegant strides.

"Yeah…nice to see you too," Link said, still remembering what she said on their last visit.

"Hi Nabooru!" Meghan said, forgetting about all that. Nabooru stepped forward and gave Meghan a hug.

"Miss Meghan," she began, talking into her ear as she hugged her. "How are you?" she said in her rich voice. It had a certain ringing quality to it, as though to persuade people to do things. She let go, and looked at the girl, who was about the same height. "Zelda told me, about the seven days thing," Nabooru said, again in her deliberate tone. "But while we're here together," she paused, then looked at Link as though she had forgotten him, "While we're all here together," she looked back at Meghan, "Then I have decided that I can give you guys something to do! Come, Meghan!" She took Meghan's arm in hers and led her back into the desert, completely ignoring Link. Meghan realized this and turned her head as they walked away. She smiled.

"Come on, silly!" she told him. He stared for a few seconds, then followed, feeling rejected. Meghan wondered how Nabooru knew that they were going to be there. Maybe Saria had told her. They trudged through the desert, Link following slightly behind Nabooru and Meghan. They were chatting, but because of the howling winds, Link couldn't hear what they were saying.

_Girl things…something I wouldn't want to hear anyway, probably._

"So, Meghan, my enthusiastic girl," Nabooru began out of earshot of Link, "what's up with you and Link?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Meghan. Don't try that with me. I've lived around girls my whole life. I know some things."

"I couldn't tell you," Meghan said, because there was nothing to tell.

"Why not? I can keep a secret."

"Yes, I'm sure you can. I just don't have an answer. "

"Of course, darling." Nabooru grinned a wide, Gerudo quality smile.

They had, at last, reached the Desert Colossus. They walked through the sand there. The small green blobs that would normally bombard them held back.

"They obey the Gerudo and protect our desert lands," Nabooru explained. She lowered the cloth that had covered her mouth and nose. "But when Evil Ganondorf had taken over…they only listened to him and not the true Gerudo. Every monster of the dessert did the same."

"Cool," Meghan said. "So where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"That makes me nervous." Meghan said. They followed Nabooru all the way to the entrance of the Spirit Temple. "Why are we going in there?"

"Because it is much more than a Temple, my dear." Nabooru said. "It is my palace."

"Your palace?"

"Where I keep my most valuable belongings. And _you_ should be more careful with your belongings," Nabooru said, looking straight, forward to the temple and not to Meghan's face.

"What are you talking about?"

"I would think you would be wiser, yet you walked all the way here without realizing."

"What do you mean?" Meghan said, now scared. Nabooru looked over her shoulder at Meghan, with a wicked smile on her face. She slowly moved her hand up to her face, near her cheek, where she showcased a small blade no larger than her hand. Meghan stepped back. "Wait, that's mine!" Meghan said, as she checked her pocket. It was empty. Link stepped to her side.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Nabooru's smile faded. She turned and faced them.

"This is dangerous to have around Gerudos." Nabooru said seriously. She moved the blade in front of her face, crossing it to her side. "You should know better. They will steal it right from you."

"Nabooru, please give it back," Link asked.

"It's OK, Link," Meghan said. "She will."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Nabooru said, swinging it in circles around her fingers. "It's too cute!"

"Nabooru!" he yelled, angry about her carelessness.

Nabooru bent over, holding her stomach and laughing hysterically. "You guys…!" She took a few seconds to calm down, then wiped her eyes and stepped forward and handed the knife to Meghan. Link shook his head.

"Pick pocketing is one of the first things a young Gerudo girl learns. I haven't practiced my pick pocketing in a while. I needed to try it on someone who wouldn't accuse me of anything." She smiled widely, apparently not seeing how crazy she was.

"Link…" Meghan said, turning to face him comfortingly. "It was a joke."

"I'd like to get going." Nabooru said impatiently, putting his her arm around Meghan and leading her forward. He looked at her.

"Lead the way," he said, gesturing. He was annoyed by her cheap tricks and…claim over Meghan.

"Come! I have things to show you!" Nabooru said. She walked over to the left side of the temple. All the way in the corner was a trap door in the floor…that neither of them had seen ever before.

"Whoa…" Meghan said. Nabooru opened the door and walked into it. Meghan hesitated a second, then followed. Directly inside it were some stairs…correction, a lot of stairs. They descended in a very dim passage way, every about ten feet there was a small, dim torch on the wall and it was so dark they could barely see the person in front of them. It was a near miracle they didn't trip, but Nabooru seemed to be having no problem at all.

After many steep, narrow stairs, they seemed to have stopped. At the bottom a few torches lit it up, and Meghan realized that Nabooru was actually farther ahead of her than she thought. She had stopped at a door a few feet from the last step. It was a large door that had a few locks on it. Meghan looked to the side, where there was a small hallway. At the end there were more stairs. It was pitch black down there.

Nabooru waved her hand over the three locks. Each opened with a small click as she moved her hand over it. She turned and opened the door. It was pitch black inside. And eerily silent. Nabooru pulled Meghan inside, and then pulled Link in and closed the door.

"Uhh…it's dark in here," Meghan said, wondering why Nabooru would lead them to a pitch black room. She took a step, and then almost stepped on Nabooru. "Sorry."

"That's all right, dear." She took a step back and almost fell, landing back on Link.

"Sorry!" she cried. He grabbed her arm tightly, not purposely, but because he didn't know where she was, and helped her standing straight again.

"That's OK."

"Nabooru, what are we doing…in the dark here?" There was silence. "Nabooru?" her heart started beating fast. She turned to where she thought Link was. "Link, are you there?"

"Yes."

"But where's Nabooru? Where are we?" She walked forward, trying to find him. She put her hand out in front of her. She bumped his arm. Then they heard a sound. It was a sound like somebody was walking towards them with large, heavy steps. She grabbed his arm very tightly. The steps were still walking towards them.

"Nabooru, we can't see anything. Where are we going?" Meghan asked. "Are you going to turn a light on?" _Or_ _light a candle, Meghan. They don't turn lights on here, _she told herself. "Light a candle?"

"Navi, we need your light." Navi flew out, quivering. She let off a bit of light, but only just enough for Link to see Meghan's face and she to see his. The light didn't even extend to the ground.

"Nabooru?" she asked, even though she was starting to realize those weren't the light, sly steps of a thief, much less Nabooru's. They sounded almost metallic on the floor…

Then the steps seemed to be coming from behind. She turned, now grabbing his arm with both hands. She still saw nothing.

"OK, seriously. Nabooru, this is not funny now!" The steps were coming from both directions, back and front. They had nowhere to go, they had no idea what was going on, but Link knew not to panic. Nabooru had to be around somewhere. But Meghan was scared.

The steps were now close, and seemed to surround them. Navi squeaked and flew back into his tunic. "Navi!" he whispered. She quivered and didn't come out.

The sounds now came from all sides except Link's left side, where he held his sword. He assumed there was a wall there. Link slowly backed up, and his foot hit the wall. He took Meghan's hands from his arm and led her over to the wall, and put her up against it. He stood in front of her, trying to figure out what was going on, readying his sword.


	16. Remix: Day II Part II: HowDidThisHappen?

Then the footsteps stopped. They now heard no steps at all. Meghan's breathing was short and rapid. She tried to make it silent, but she was way too scared. They stood there for a few seconds. Then Link reached his hand back towards Meghan, found her arm and led her forward.

"Come on," he whispered. "They've gone."

"How do you know?" she whispered.

"I can't sense them anymore." He led her forward.

"Where are we going?" she whispered.

"Getting out of here." She followed him for a while, Linked by their hands through the dark room or hallway or whatever it was that they were in.

"How do you know where we're going?"

"I don't."

Meghan just kept following him. But they didn't know they were actually going further into the dilemma than they anticipated. "_That's the second time Nabooru has done something to us today_," Meghan whispered.

"I kn…wait, shh…" He had heard a sound and stopped. He let go of her arm, but she squeaked and ran to him, grabbing him again.

"What is it?" she barely whispered.

He turned his head to determine if he could see anything. There was silence and darkness...then laughter. Lots of girly, evil laughs. It was farther away at first, and then came closer and louder. They were surrounded by it.

Then the lights came on.

"Congratulations on killing Ganondorf!" They were surrounded by many Gerudo, clapping, smiling, jumping. It was a sea of red hair, colorful outfits, glinting weapons, big eyes, tanned skin, and long noses.

"All that for nothing?" She said in a choked voice, then quickly let go of Link bowing her head in embarrassment. The many Gerudo parted in front of them.

"Nabooru, please don't do that again," Link said as he let out a sigh of relief and annoyance. She just _loved_ confusing them! Nabooru walked through the parted crowd towards them. "What was all that for?"

"Oh, just having a bit of fun," Nabooru teased, smirking.

"Gerudo fun is not fun to Hylians. There's a precedent for that," Link said, serious. They all knew, of course, of whom he was speaking. Some of the smiles faded, the bit of chattery commotion silencing at Link's serious words.

"Nabooru told us," a Gerudo in the front, a higher ranking one. She had two blades crossed on her back. "We no longer appreciate what he did. We do know now that he wasn't worth our girls' time. And...those witches...we're glad they're gone too."

"Yes, we do appreciate you though!" said a young girl in the front, one of the lower ranking guards. She was wearing a purple outfit. They nodded, as a group, in approval.

"You see, Link," Nabooru began, "we had to do this because you are so _different_ from the rest of the men." Her expression was serious for a moment, large golden eyes oddly demure.

"Yes, you are different," said a few.

"So we decided to give you a party!" Nabooru said, spreading her arms out. "Come! Enjoy!"

The two looked about, realizing they were in a room that was quite long. They followed Nabooru to the end of the room, where it seemed more like a party. There were decorations in purple, white, green, and red, and a table of refreshments. There was a stage of musicians and colored lanterns all about, lining the walls to turn the once dark room into some sort of dim rainbow disco.

"Wow," Meghan said, impressed. "They threw you a...real party."

"It is for you as well," a guard said. This must have been one of the guards they had fought when they freed the carpenters. She looked very familiar.

"So, wont you like to stay?" Nabooru asked.

Meghan looked at Link, who looked her back with a face that said 'do you want to?' Meghan nodded in reply.

"Sure, we'll stay," Meghan said. It was interesting, if nothing else. And she totally wanted to raid those refreshments (were those _cookies_?!).

"Wonderful! Let the party begin!" Nabooru said merrily. Some music started. Meghan looked over to the stage. A bunch of Gerudo girls wearing vibrant variations of the same outfit were playing some Latin-like music. Meghan felt the beat and had the precarious urge to dance, but she was sure it would lead her to embarrassment. Two Gerudos were playing guitars, one had various assortments of drums that she quickly tapped along with the beat, a few were playing brass instruments, and one was playing a singer sung words in Hylian, and Meghan couldn't understand. The singer had a rich, full voice that was very pleasant to listen to. But after a verse of Hylian, they switched to English, and then she heard the words perfectly. It spoke about the desert sands.

The girl in front was wearing a huge emerald around her neck, her midriff quite bare and showing off her toned physique as she gently swayed with her music. Other Gerudo girls danced around them, moving their hips rather fluidly, undulating in time, arms flowing like rivers. Meghan felt quite inadequate then, and her urge to dance was definitely quelled. In fact, she felt rather silly with her outfit even, since most of her skin was covered.

She wondered how Link even felt, being the only male in the room. He was still, though he seemed interested in the music. Meghan settled for a little bobbing of her head to the beat. "Wow that was a deep song," Meghan said to him when it ended. "Really cool."

"It was a very nice song," Link agreed, a little robotically. They started another song that was from the same genre of music. It was nice, but Meghan had definitely enjoyed the first song more. She was eyeing the refreshment table, the idea of cookies or whatever snacks they were suddenly seeming a bit evil. Nabooru walked over.

"The first song they played was quite popular in Hyrule for a while…but we Gerudos became unpopular, and so did it. Shame, really. They're a talented group. The lead singer was once one of our best guards, but she suffered an injury." She paused for a second. "But don't let that fool you. She's just as good as she was before, since she healed. She just prefers singing."

"I can see why!" Meghan said, transfixed on the song. The girl singing shot a quick glance at her, and then smiled while still singing. She seemed truly happy and truly connected to the music. Meghan understood the feeling...and she was jealous of that girl then for more reasons than one.

"Well, my friends, I must arrange some party events. I'll be back." Nabooru turned away, ready to slink through the crowd.

"Nabooru!" Meghan said suddenly.

"Yes?" Nabooru turned back around. Meghan didn't make eye contact with her.

"Thank you," Meghan said, last minute, though she wanted to say something else...

"Don't worry, dear. I wasn't planning anything else," Nabooru said mischievously. She pivoted and started walking, interacting with the Gerudos around the room as she sauntered slowly away to the opposite end of the room.

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," Link responded. They walked around the party area, where many Gerudo chatted, whispered, pointed, and danced. Their dancing was exactly like belly dancing, really. Meghan marveled at how something like that could be so similar to the way it was on earth.

They made their way over to the refreshments. Available for drinking was some Lon Lon Ranch Milk, juice of some sort, and something in a jug that she couldn't see. A few older Gerudo walked over and poured themselves small amounts of it, while younger ones poured larger glasses, giggling.

"Do you know what's in there?" Meghan asked curiously.

"Not sure," Link responded. "But it may be…"

But Meghan had already walked over to a less threatening group of Gerudo girls who seemed her age. He followed her. "Excuse me, do you know what's in there?" One standing in the front, who seemed to be the leader of them, looked at her friends on both sides of her with an impish smile.

"Only the best drink in the world. It's the Juice of the Desert. Made only here by our expert Gerudo brewers. Would you like some?" Her friends suppressed snickers.

"It's not…bad for you is it?" Meghan said as the girl poured her a glass. It had a reddish tint, though it was mostly a clear liquid. Meghan examined it for a second, taking a sniff.

"Go ahead, drink it," a girl to the left of the front girl said. Meghan brought it to her lips, then while watching the girls, took a small sip. It was actually very good tasting, and it didn't smell like alcohol or anything…

"Meghan," Link said from behind her, "just don't drink too much."

"Oh, my name is Narma," the leader said.

"I'm Shada," the second girl said.

"I'm Tamay," a girl to the right of Narma said.

"I'm Kiku," the last girl said timidly.

"Nice to meet you guys! I think you know who I am, right?"

"Yes, of course! You're Meghan. Where did you get that name? I know it's weird to us because we are the Gerudo race, but it does not even sound Hylian," Shada asked.

"I'm not from here..."

"Where'd you come from?" asked Kiku. Narma shot her glance, as though she had asked a stupid question.

"Oh." Kiku smiled. There was a secret between them…Meghan became wary. She watched her surroundings, searching for the elusive Nabooru.

Meghan drank more, as the other girls drank their own, and they asked her questions about herself. Link stood warily in the background, wondering when he she stop her. Slowly, Meghan became looser in what she was talking about. She felt freer, like she was flying…

"Hey, Narma, right?" Meghan said slowly, her voice slurred. "Heh, there wouldn't happen to be any alcohol in here, would there?" She wobbled slightly. Link was standing at her side, watching her and the other girls to be sure that they didn't make any trouble. He was lightly sipping on some Lon Lon Milk. He lowered his glass, noticing her bizarre speech.

"I don't think so…" Narma said. She didn't know what alcohol was. Narma and her companions drank more. It took longer for them to achieve the same effects as Meghan because they were tolerant of the drink.

"Hey, Meghan," Tamay said, her voice slurred as well. "You want to come with us for a second?" she asked.

"Sure, where are we going?" Meghan asked slowly.

"_Somewhere_," she answered mysteriously.

"OK, sure."

"Meghan...where are you…" Link began, feeling forgotten again. "Be careful," he said, also feeling worried.

"I'm…going somewhere…see ya, hun," she said provocatively, turning to him, putting her hands on her hips and jutting one hip out way to the side. He was surprised. Her new posse took her hands and dragged her somewhere, hips swaying as they giggled to each other. She flapped around all carelessly, and turned her head to smile. She was walking in…almost…straight lines.

Narma and Tamay, who had her hands, led her to a back door in the large room. They opened it to a stone corridor.

"So," she said shortly, making a popping sound with her mouth at the end, "Tamay, where we goin'?" she asked.

"Yoooouu'll see!" It was quite dim again, except for a few torches along the walls. There were doors every few feet. They stopped in front of a third one on the left. Kiku opened it.

"Hey. Nabooru," Narma called, kicking the door open the rest of the way. "Look!"

"Oh, you brought her!" Meghan looked around the room. It was finely decorated, bright and large, unlike the rest of the place. This was obviously Nabooru's room. "Meghan, would you like to sit?" Meghan nodded her head quickly a lot of times. She pranced over to the chair Nabooru motioned to. She jumped onto the big, overstuffed, red chair.

"Meghan, would you like some more Juice?"

"Yeah yeah!" Meghan said as Nabooru poured her more juice. The other group of girls were talking and laughing really loud about something.

"Hey Meghan! How `bout we give you a makeover?" Shada asked.

"Yeah! It could be really fun!" Narma agreed, nodding to her friend. Meghan thought for a second.

"Sure, I guess…" Tamay and Shada ran over and grabbed her hands, while Kiku and Narma asked Nabooru something.

"Of course, dears," Nabooru said from her spot on a chaise longue. They pulled Meghan into the back of the room. It had a deep red curtain that matched the chairs, to sever it from the rest of the room.

"Let's see…" Narma said as she looked through a wardrobe of clothes.

"I only wear black and white," Meghan informed them while drinking more Juice.

"Well, black is no color to be wearing in the desert," Shada told her. "So we'll go with white."

"Why am I changing my clothes again?"

"Cause," Tamay informed. Meghan stared into nothing for a second while they picked out her clothes, deciding "cause" was an appropriate reason. Then Meghan asked suddenly, "How old are ya? All of you."

"I'm sixteen," Narma replied.

"Shada and I are fifteen," Tamay said.

"I'm fourteen," Kiku added.

"Hey, I'm fifteen! Hee hee hee heehee…" Meghan started giggling for no reason. She took another sip.

"All right, put that down," Narma said, taking the cup from Meghan. "You need to change into these clothes."

"What?" Meghan asked. She wasn't paying attention.

"You need to change into these clothes," Tamay repeated.

"And how do I do that?" she asked, taking the clothes from Narma and inspecting them.

"Tamay, Shada, help her. Then when you are done, come retrieve Kiku and me so we may help as well." Meghan stared after Narma and Kiku as they left. They closed the curtain and left Meghan staring at Shada and Tamay.

"Uhhhh…" Meghan said. She spotted her glass on a vanity and walked over to get it.

"No. Time to change." Tamay took the cup away again and set it out of her reach.

"Aww!" she groaned.

"Put these on."

"OK…if I can figure out how to get these desert Gerudo silly fluffy clothes on…"

"It's not hard."

"OK…" Tamay and Shada left. She stared at her clothes in her hands, then…

She tottered over to her cup, threw the clothes on the floor, and drank the rest. She wobbled a bit…

"No more!" she said to herself as she turned the cup upside down and shook it, but, to her dismay, nothing came out. "Darn." Tamay and Shada stuck their heads back in, hearing her talk. They saw she hadn't done anything yet to change. Tamay picked the clothes up off the floor with a sigh, and helped her into them. With some struggle.

"Wow. I like these clothes!" she cried, throwing her arms up into the air. The shirt she was wearing was a white halter-top that exposed her mid section. She self-consciously pulled the shirt down as far as it would go, but while it covered as much as her ribcage, the wound just about her navel was clearly on display. The matching white harem pants were low cut as well. But even she had to admit to herself that otherwise, she didn't look horrible…or was that the drink thinking for her?

Shada shouted, "Narma! Kiku! Get over here!"

"We're coming!" Narma shouted back. "One second!" She came in a few seconds later with some cups and a pitcher in her hand. She wasn't walking in crooked lines anymore, and seemed perfectly sober. Kiku, too, seemed sane.

"What's that?" Meghan asked hopefully, straining to see inside of it.

"Not for now," she responded, putting it on top of the wardrobe. "Now, don't you look _darling_!" she exclaimed, changing the subject. "Wonderful! Now, we need to get started on your hair."

"My hair?" She was still confused as to why they were doing this, but…_juice_. The world was floating around her, and she felt at ease. She didn't really mind what they were doing. But she felt curious too.

"Yes," Tamay responded. "Sit, sit!" she said, gesturing to the chair next to her.

"Why are we doing this again?"

"_Because_. Now, hold still." Shada pulled Meghan's hair out of its ponytail. Narma and Shada came with the scissors, and combs and brushes…

"Suddenly, I think I may regret this," Meghan whispered as the girls giggled and moved in on her hair. "Oh god! Don't cut my hair!" She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the worst. She closed her eyes as they snipped her hair, brushed it, tied it etc…

"Hey! I was going to do that Tamay!" Shada's voice sounded.

"No, you had her bangs!"

"I want to do her eye makeup!" Kiku yelled.

"That's my job!" said the eldest.

"Narma, tell _her_ to do the bangs, and let me do my job!"

"Tamay, do what you said you were going to do. There will be no lying amongst us. Kiku, you may do the rest of her face, except the eyes, Shada, finish the hair, Tamay do anything else you can think of when you're done doing what you're doing at the moment."

_What are they doing? Why did I accept? My poor hair! What it Link doing? He must be lonely, in that room full of girls…_

"Meghan, please close your eyes normally and sit up straight," Narma said. Meghan had been squeezing her eyes tight together. She felt Narma come close to her face, and then started putting something on her eyes. Kiku did something to her face, while Shada pulled her hair back into a high ponytail.

Before she knew it, they were done.

"All right, you may open your eyes," Narma finally said. Meghan reluctantly opened her eyes, and then turned to look at herself in the mirror. She felt very surprised, despite her fuzzy head.

"Do you like it?" Narma asked. Meghan stared. Her hair, in a high ponytail, had a black stone on it—no doubt it was stolen. They had trimmed it was even and split-end free, and her bangs were now shorter, hanging out of the ponytail and framing her face. Her eyes were lined with a black eye liner and her face was caked in makeup of some kind that made her skin look flawless and radiant, like from a movie. Her nails were perfectly trimmed and shaped…like they had been so long ago. Who was this person?

For a second, she was almost sober. Then Narma took the cups and pitcher down, and she remembered that sweet taste…

"Is that…?"

"No. It is very good, though I assure you," Narma said, pouring some for Meghan. "Here, try it." Meghan took the cup. It was not the light, reddish color of the Juice of the Desert, but a disgusting, gray color.

"Ewww! I'm not drinking this!"

"It's very good! Nabooru made it for us."

"Why did Nabooru make it?" Tamay asked. Narma shot her a glance, and she said no more. Meghan smelled it. It smelled like nothing, really. She lifted it to her lips and took a small sip. It tasted horrible! She made a face.

"You lied!" she yelled after swallowing.

"Drink _more_."

"No way!" But she took one more sip. She felt a little more aware of her surroundings. She was wondering more and more why she was here.

"Come on, we need to keep a little of the effects of the Juice so this works," Narma said, taking her arm and leading her out. Nabooru wasn't in the room anymore.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see," Narma said while leading her out of the room. They walked down the dim hall to the room where the party was in. She could hear singing, but it was now a different voice and it was in Hylian. It became clearer and clearer as she got closer…

"So now are you going to tell me?"

"Wait here…" Narma said. Kiku went with her, but Shada and Tamay stayed. A few minutes later Narma returned. "Come," she said, opening the door to the party room.

"Meghan?" It was a welcome, familiar voicd that called her name as she entered the room.

"Link?" she asked, turning to where the voice came from.

"Meghan…?" he asked again, sounding confused. "Uhh…what were you doing? You were gone for a while." She looked…different. What was she _wearing_?

"I…actually have no idea. A group of Gerudo girls somehow convinced me to go with them."

He was a bit shocked, but tried to hide it. He couldn't help but look at what she wore. So much of her upper body was exposed unlike he'd ever seen before. She'd left wearing a long-sleeved shirt with gloves. Now she was wearing some thin halter-top that showed off her shoulders, her defined collarbone, her midriff, and the way her waist curved in, her hourglass figure. But there was that ugly scab. It stretched about six inches across her stomach. He hadn't seen it much, just a glance when Zelda had been trying to heal it, but seeing it again brought a fresh wave of anger to him. He pushed it away, knowing she was fine and the evil was gone. And then her face…somehow, though it really didn't look different, it _did_ look different. He guessed this was what they called makeup. She looked fine without it, but with it…her eyes were like…

He realized he was probably staring or otherwise reacting quite blatantly to her change. He concentrated very hard to keep himself from blushing…but he wasn't sure if he had succeeded.

She laughed at her own statement, swaying a bit with the music, oblivious to his surprise.

* * *

"They're in place, Nabooru," Narma whispered. Nabooru nodded and glided within the crowd to the band. She whispered something to the current singer, then that singer told the first singer, who was taking a break. She nodded when she heard the news, stood and walked over to her place in front of the band. A few of the brass players got off the small stage.

Nabooru made her way back to Narma in the corner. "We're ready for your part."

"Good." Narma made a hand signal to Kiku on the other side of the room, who signaled a different one to Shada, who told Tamay, who was standing next to her, to go. Tamay lingered among the crowd, trying not to be noticed. She was the best at it.

* * *

"What happened to me?" she asked, moving about a bit, to the beat.

"Oh, that drink must be what I thought it was."

"What's that?"

"It makes the person who drink it loose and willing to do a lot of things. It's addictive, or so I've heard." He frowned, a worried look on his face. "Are you all right?

"Sounds like alcohol…oh my gosh…they did that to me?" she cried. But why? These Gerudos could not be trusted, ruled by a sage or not! This was definitely a plot for something…but what? Meghan knew it couldn't be _that_ bad. "Link, I feel like something's not right here," Meghan said, lowering her voice and moving closer to Link.

"So do I. But not much can happen. Although Nabooru is mischievous, I trust that everything is well here. And I will keep watch over you. Just don't go off again…"

"But what if it's not Nabooru? Anybody here could be a follower of you know who…"

"You're right, but I don't think that's a reason to be afraid. We could be overreacting, you know. Nabooru is very mischievous."

She nodded and sighed. "Are you enjoying this? This party?" He didn't seem overly happy.

"Sort of." Then he smiled at her, tilting his head. "I guess I haven't been to many parties…"

"Maybe we can find a way to leave…and for me to get my normal clothes back."

"Maybe that would be rude, to leave so soon, though." In the background, a song started. It was a sweet song, sung in Hylian. The sweet tune was beautiful. It was a slow song.

* * *

"Everything is completely set, Nabooru. We're just waiting for Tamay to do her job…she'll be quite good at it."

"She _is_ the stealthiest of all of you."

"Yes."

* * *

Tamay spotted her targets… She stealthily moved through the crowd, in between Gerudo guards, and blending with her fellow warriors…

She was a few feet away from them. She started a small conversation with a guard she knew. She was sure they weren't looking…

She casually walked towards them. She walked closer to Meghan, still in between the Gerudos. The next part would be hard. It would have to be perfectly timed. The Hero's eyes would be too fast for her if she went too slowly.

Their position, though, couldn't be more perfect. The Hero was standing near a wall, and Meghan was facing him, talking to him. Distracted.

Just perfect, she could get them both, together, this way. Two birds with one stone. She looked away from them…Link wouldn't know who she was that well and Meghan wasn't facing her, so it wouldn't really matter, but Link was a careful person and knew that anybody staring at someone for a prolonged period of time spells suspiciousness. Especially in their present state of paranoia.

She lingered just for a second longer, then positioned herself to where she could run perpendicularly to them, and escape in the crowd. She got ready…Meghan changed her position a bit, and it was time.

* * *

"Maybe that would be rude, to leave so soon, though." Then Link stopped talking. In the crowd, he saw that girl…she was certainly suspicious. She seemed to linger…maybe it was nothing…_paranoia, _he thought.

"Oh well. We should go have fun, I suppose. There's no point in wasting time that we have. I guess." She moved a bit. The Gerudo that Link was watching moved. He looked back at Meghan.

The same slow, sweet song was still on. She seemed very distraught…_poor girl. She has enough on her mind…_

Then he got an odd, strange, sick, demented, crazy, lunatic idea. Maybe it would help, and maybe it wouldn't. But if she was anything like himself, it would.

"Hey, Meghan…do you want to dance?"

"What?" Meghan said, not sure if she had heard him right. But she knew that she had.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked again. Meghan stared. _Well, that's a first._ Her heart started beating faster. _No one has ever asked me to dance before…_

"Uhh…" _What do I say...umm…I'm so confused! _"Y-y-y-yeah, ss-s-sure." He took her hand and led her out a bit, away from the wall. She stared at him.

_Ummm…what the heck am I supposed to do? I've never like danced with anyone like this before…_Meghan thought.

_Yeah…why did I do that? Uhhh…what am I supposed to do? I've never danced before…_he thought.

_Well, here goes nothing._ They thought at the same time.

_OK…let's see…I've seen people dance in movies…how do they do it? Gosh, I've seen multiple ways…what if Hylians dance differently? What style are we supposed to dance in? _She mentally cried and moaned. _I'm so confused and people are sure to look at us…_

_Uh…right…I'm supposed to…lead…I think…or not…why did I get myself into this mess?_

_Here we go…_Meghan turned to face Link. He faced her and looked into her face.

They both hesitated. Meghan raised her hand…and before she knew what she was doing she was…dancing?

They were both hesitant at first, dancing as far away from each other as their arms would allow. But bit by little, oh so tiny bit, they strayed closer and closer. The song was still playing. The words were all melting away….all Meghan heard were notes in the background…her head was still buzzing with a bit of the drink she'd had.

She was ever growing closer to this boy she had met, every day…mentally and now, while dancing, physically.

Tamay ran for it. She struck, shoving Meghan as hard as she could, then leaving quickly through the crowd.

Meghan yelped and lurched forward, the blow landing in her middle back, easily throwing her completely off balance. She collided into Link, who lost his own balance and toppled to the floor. In a split second, he had his hands around her bare waist, trying to cushion her fall as he fell onto his behind.

She landed top of him, her body pressed against his. It took her a second, due to the shock and her slight disorientation, to actually realize where she was. She felt his warm hands on her skin, and for a second imagined him tracing his fingers along the smooth skin of her back. The thought made her stomach flip.

"What the hell was that?" Meghan yelled, pushing against the floor and standing up with some difficulty. She looked away from him and said, "Sorry!" as he also stood, brushing the stray sand from himself.

"Um…that's OK," he said, standing up from his position against the wall. The girl who had pushed her was nowhere in sight. He knew his face was red. There was no way it wasn't. _The feel of her smooth, bare skin_…he turned away from her, even though she pointedly wasn't looking at him either.

"What was that _for_?" Meghan asked, looking around. "Stupid Gerudos. What are they trying to accomplish?" She was completely embarrassed. "God, I'm sorry." She said. As if she wasn't _already_ embarrassed enough, with the clothes she happen to be wearing, but then they have to go and do this?

_Why does this always happen? Oh my gosh! They're so cruel!_ She swayed a bit, shaking her head. Was everyone watching?

* * *

Nabooru, Tamay, Narma, and Shada watched from the corner of the room. Their plan had succeeded!

"Yes! It worked!" Tamay said.

"Thanks to your…push…" Shada said, giggling.

"It was Nabooru's brains." Tamay said.

"Narma brought the whole plan together, really."

"Kiku recommended who would be best for each job in the plan."

"We all helped, girls!" Nabooru said, "Group hug!" They all hugged each other. Then, from the corner of her eye, Shada saw Kiku's signal. The song was going to end soon!

"Shada, tell her to inform the singer to not stop the song!" Shada hand signaled it to Kiku, who nodded in understanding. She snuck through the crowd to the singer and whispered the command in her ear while she was still singing. Then she relayed the message to all the accompanists.

"Good. Now, let us enjoy!" Nabooru said.

* * *

He took three deep breaths, trying to cool himself off. He tried to think of something stupid, something that would take his mind off of this, the exact opposite of Meghan. Immediately, his mind went to returning the sword to its pedestal, and that made feel _quite_ opposite. It made him suddenly yearn for them to be facing each other and not wasting a second, no matter how embarrassed they each were.

She was being fidgety, playing with her hair and facing away from him. He looked straight at her and put his hand on her arm, turning her around to him. She looked away from him, a slight frown on her face. He resisted the urge to manually direct her face to his. Instead, he spoke.

"Let's just forget about that. They're weird," he whispered, smiling. She looked up at him and smirked at him.

"Yeah, they are."

"Let's just continue what we were doing. Do you want to?"

She nodded. He smiled and gently place his hands on her hips, unable to avoid touching her bare skin. He began moving, pulling her along. Gently swaying, stepping in circles. He danced so elegantly, as though he'd learned for years, but she couldn't imagine that he'd had much practice at all (in reality, he'd just watching that couple that always danced in the market and Kakariko more than he should have).

She stared at his eyes and he smiled. His fingers were on her skin again, and she swore at some point he move his finger across her skin. It sent shivers up her spine.

Unconsciously, she pulled him to herself. If he even realized, he showed no sign of it.

Back and forth…step step step…the sweet reverie Meghan knew was soothing her tortured, adolescent mind. She wanted nothing else but to stay here. For a moment, she could only focus on how impossibly close they were, her breath shallow as she stared over his shoulder. Her lips were parted slightly and she breathed through her mouth to try to calm her heart.

She succeeded in calming herself, and remembered all that was to happen. She realized she had her eyes closed, and she opened them. She lifted her head, and looked to his face. He was looking down at her, with an affectionate smile. A few seconds passed, and the song ended beautifully.

Meghan moved away from Link. She walked with him to the corner of the room, their hands slowly unfolding from each other.

She stared up at him. He looked at her. She had no idea what to say.

Neither did he. But it was getting awkward.

_Well, when in doubt try humor! _she thought.

"I wonder what time it is."

_Great humor, Meghan._

"Yeah…" he said quietly.

"I'll go see if I can find Nabooru."

"Why?"

"I want to ask her something."

"OK. I'll…be waiting here." She left him slowly and walked through the room. She finally found Nabooru, Kiku, Narma, Shada, and Tamay in another corner of the room.

"Did you have fun, dear?" Nabooru asked. Meghan froze up.

"Fun? Of course I had fun. This was lots of fun. The music is great and I danced a lot!"

"No, I mean with _you know who_," Nabooru corrected. Meghan hesitated. _Maybe I can deny it all…but why would I want to?_

"Yeah, sure I had fun," she said quietly. "Well, thanks."

"Wait, Meghan. We have something to tell you." Tamay said.

"Yes." Nabooru said. "Something _very_ important. Narma, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure, Nabooru. Meghan, we set you up. Did you like the date?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Meghan said, shocked. Date? In what way was this a date? These girls must have strange ideas of dates. Meghan refused to acknowledge this as her first date.

"We set you up. Everything in this party was meant for one purpose. When I awakened as a sage, I realized something."

"And what did you realize?"

"That you and Link were _into_ each other."

"OK! What? No! That's _ridiculous_. I don't like him. That's like…liking…" She couldn't think of the correct way how to explain how ludicrous it was. In the forefront of her mind, she was embarrassed they'd think that. "Never mind. I just need to get my clothes." Meghan turned to go back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nabooru said. "We're not finished," she said in a singsong voice. The four younger girls made a circle around her, smiling widely.

"As I was saying…Nabooru realized this and just _knew_ that she had to do something about it."

"So she recruited us to get you guys together," Shada said.

"We threw this party then used the effects of the desert juice to lure you into our…trap…to make you irresistible." She grinned widely.

"Why did you do that? I'm so embarrassed! I was drunk and you dressed me up like some doll and make me seem like an _idiot_ in front of Link because I was _drunk_?" She was still a little tipsy, which made her yell a bit at them. Then she felt bad.

"So you _do_ care about how he sees you?"

"Noooo! I mean, yeah, but I just don't want to look like an idiot!" She was going to cry now. They had caused all this embarrassment…

"Perhaps we don't know how to handle it, after all; we have been around only girls all our lives…" Narma looked as though she was thinking. "Nah, we _do_ know how to handle it." The group of girls snickered. Meghan wanted to run and hide her face from everyone…everyone…

She felt like they were poking fun at her. "If you're…if you're making fun of me…people have done that before. I don't care! It doesn't faze me. Bye." She left the circle, brushing past them and tripping over her own feet a bit in the process. She made her way to somewhere…she had no idea where.

She found a spot away from all the other people on the wall. They looked at her as she passed, but no one tried to say anything. She sniffed and tried to hold back her tears. She sat there and hoped no one would notice her. She silently cried. She knelt down and leaned against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on her knees. _So…I'm a depressed drunk. Nice to know._ She closed her eyes and cried quietly for a while, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, are you OK?" he asked quietly. She lifted her head from her knees. Her tear-stained face was pathetic. That black stuff they'd put on her eyes ran down her cheeks. She sniffed and almost looked at him, but she instead looked the other way. He sat down next to her. She sniffed again.

He raised his hand, hesitating a bit. Then he took her delicate chin with a finger and gently turned her head towards him, as he had so wanted to do earlier. She looked down, embarrassed, knowing her makeup probably look stupid. He didn't think it did, though. "Don't cry, please." He took a breath and softly wiped her tears away with his finger, getting most of the smudged stuff off too. She looked up in surprise at him, but he seemed decidedly focused on her tears. "Do you wish to leave?" Meghan nodded. "OK, I'll be right back."

"No, I want to come with you."

"All right." Meghan followed him over to the group of Gerudo girls.

"We're sorry," they said in unison. "We didn't think you'd get upset." Narma stepped forward and looked up at Meghan. Meghan just smiled. They were immature. That was all… (or was she the immature one?)

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so emotional," Meghan said.

"Can we make it up to you?"

_Godesses. No_. "Just have more fun for me," she said with a smile.

"This has been a fun party. I'm sorry to leave so early, but Meghan still isn't at full strength. She needs her rest."

She felt eyes quickly drift to the scab across her navel.

"Of course." Narma said, sneaking a smile. "You two have fun too." Meghan moved closer to Narma.

"I need to retrieve my clothes and get changed back." Then she whispered to Narma. "And don't get any ideas." She sweetly smiled.

"Let me know when you are finished, I can help you navigate through the desert." Nabooru said. Meghan nodded emphatically and walked past them all. She sighed when out of earshot, Link faithfully at her side.

"I'll be back…I've got to go get changed into _normal_ clothes." Link smiled. She found the door that led to the back hall. She walked down the hall, trying to remember what room Nabooru's was.

She found it after looking in a few vacant rooms down the hall. She entered cautiously, and then quickly went to the changing room. She hurriedly changed into her other clothes. When she was finished, she carefully folded the clothes and put them on the vanity thing. She removed the jewel from her ponytail, leaving her own tie in her hair. She took one last glance in the mirror, noting that if one good thing came out of this, it was that her hair was cut very nicely. Her makeup also didn't look nearly as bad as she thought, but that might have been because of Link's careful wiping. Haha.

She made sure the clothes were folded perfectly, and ran out of the room. She met Link back in the party room. She saw Nabooru and ran over.

"Are you ready to go?"

Meghan nodded. "Thank you, Nabooru."

"Yes, thanks." Link added.

"Any time!" Nabooru said enthusiastically. She led them back outside. Once outside, they followed her through the desert. This time, Meghan walked with Link, and didn't talk much.

Finally they could just barely see the Gerudo's Fortress. As they walked closer, they could make out the gate separating the fortress from the Haunted Wasteland. They had finally reached a part of the desert where blowing winds didn't almost blind them and fill their mouths with sand.

"Well, here we are. I do believe that I'll head back to the party. Remember, Meghan, and you too, Link, if there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Thank you. Good bye, Sage Nabooru," Link said dutifully.

Nabooru winked, then turned and walked back into the desert.

"Well, that was an interesting experience."

Link nodded in agreement.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" she asked.

"Hmm…" he said, a grin growing on his lips. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?"

"Just come!" he said, gesturing for her to come and starting to walk. They went past the Gerudo's Fortress out to the valley. They walked past the carpenter's tent, to the edge of the cliff.

"You trust me, right?"

"Uhh…yeah but what are you planning to do?" she asked, although she thought she knew.

"It's the easy way out of the Valley," he said, looking down into the raging river below, smiling with great humor.

"No. Nuh-uh. I am not going to." She took several steps back.

"You said you trusted me. Why not?" Maybe he didn't actually expect her to do this but still…

"I'd get…wet…and perhaps slightly deadish."

"Well, you would get wet. But not deadish." He smiled. She smiled too.

"No!" she yelled, trying to resist his persuasive eyes. "I feel too tired…OK, then," she said, giving in. _Can't be worse than taking a roller coaster, right?_

"So you trust me?" he said, extending his hand to her.

"Always," she said, taking it. She stepped forward, on the edge of the cliff.

"Ready?" he asked, tightening his grip. "Remember, dive, and don't jump. That would hurt."

"Ouch." She agreed.

"On the count of three. One…"

"Two," she said, her heart started to race. She shied away a bit…

"THREE!" they both said. She felt him jump from the edge of the cliff. She did too. Although she held on tight to him, she could feel her grip loosening. He turned his jump into a dive, letting go of her arm. She tried to do the same, and got into as perfect a position as she could. He laughed as he fell, not afraid at all. It was a long fall…

"Oh goddesses!" she screamed, drawing in a large breath, and then she felt the impact. She went far into the water, a mere foot or two away from touching the bottom. She opened her eyes and barely saw Link through the mass of bubbles separating them. She swam through the lukewarm water to the surface.

As soon as she got her head out of the water, she drew in a large breath. She looked for Link. She didn't see him, so she turned. He wasn't there either. She turned again. There he was.

He swam to her, and said, "Come on, this is the fun part." He took her hand.

"What?"

"This." They fell over the edge of the waterfall thingy. Meghan, having had barely even a warning, had not taken a breath. She plunged into the water. Quickly she swam to the surface.

"Hey!" she yelled, soon as she'd caught her breath. He snickered. "I just like swallowed a lot of water!" she yelled.

"I guess now would be a good time to warn you that the next one's coming." He smirked. She looked. The next waterfall was a few feet away.

"_You're brilliant,_" She muttered sarcastically as they fell again. Soon Meghan and Link were in the Lake Hylia area. Once she swam to a deep part, Meghan took a deep breath and swam as far down as she could. Then she went back up.

"Don't make me do that again," she told Link, who swam over to her.

"Come on. You know you had fun. Admit it."

"…Fine. I had fun. But…"

"Yes?" He stared at her. She smiled. Who was she kidding?

"Let's do it again!" She took his hand and started swimming.

"I think I've had enough for today."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Meghan…" he said with a laugh.

"Fine." She swam to land. "I'm going by myself."

"No!"

"Bye bye!" She squeezed the water out of her hair, and ran.

"Hey come back here!" He yelled, getting out of the water too.

"Ha ha! You can't catch me!" she yelled, running fast, her poor shoes squishing in the grass.

"That's not fair!" _Oh well. She'll slow down once she gets to the gate! Snicker snicker._ He ran fast after her, lazily.

When she reached the gate, she thought ahead and climbed the ladder. Link was not too far behind her, but she was far enough up that she could get up it without him reaching her. So she ran across it while he climbed.

She quickly scrambled down the ladder as Link jumped down and she ran still. She ran in the direction of the Gerudo Valley.

Dude, he was seriously gaining on her.

She ran faster still, trying to outrun him. She should have known better, that it would not work, mostly because he was very fast but also because she was starting to feel light headed. He swiftly caught up to her, and grabbed her around her waist, a huge smile on his face.

"No! I want to dive again!" she yelled while laughing, gasping for air. She tried to pry from his grip. Yeah…that didn't work either. Her breath was heavy, and she felt the need to sit down. She hadn't gotten very far…

He let her down to sit on the ground, both of them dripping wet. They were lucky it was fairly warm.

When she was certain her vision wasn't going to black out, she panted, "I want to jump again!"

"But you were so scared to begin with!" he said, laughing. He was kneeled beside her.

"I'm going to do it again," she threatened hollowly.

"You can't even get up, I bet," he teased.

"Don't count your eggs before your cows hatch."

"I know many things but I didn't know that cows hatch from eggs."

"They don't. So ultimately it has two meanings."

"And what would they be?"

"The lactic acid is building up in my legs…"

"You always confuse me," he said.

"I paid attention in biology," she bragged. "There are two kinds of respiration, aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic… is where you use oxygen. It goes through three main parts, and makes twenty something, ATPs when it's finished. But if you use a lot of oxygen when exercising, it goes into oxygen debt, and you switch to anaerobic respiration, which is when you don't use oxygen, and it makes a lot less ATPs. And then you end up making acid somehow. It kinda burns."

"Yes…well…" He just stared. He really had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah. It confuses me too. But the best thing to do is to walk it off…"

"Walk what off?"

"Lactic acid."

"…" He just nodded. "Are you ok? Do you feel well?"

"I'm all right. I feel pretty good. I had fun today, not including being brainwashed. I had fun diving, remind me to do it again."

"I'm really glad," he said, smiling, sitting back. "Come on, let's get out of here. I think we had enough time spent out today."

"Yeah." They got up.

* * *

As they walked out into the field, Link decided not to call Epona. They had a little time to kill today, and Meghan seemed to feel fine. He would make her rest in about an hour. But for now, she wanted to walk around. They walked out to the middle of the field, where Meghan hopped up onto the stone wall thing. She walked across it, as Link perched himself on top of it. She walked all the way to the end, then walked back to where Link was sitting.

"You know, that reminded me of gymnasts back home. They do all these back flips and stuff on thin little balance beams and I have no idea how they do it. I wish I could do back flips."

"You can't?"

"Nope."

"I could teach you."

"I'd be afraid."

"Why? It seems whenever you're afraid you end up having fun."

"It's just something that I wouldn't be able to do. I am not that physically inclined."

"You trust me, right?" he asked, looking at her. "I won't let you get hurt."

"I don't believe I need to answer that, since I've already told you a million times," she said, jumping down. He got off the wall as well. "But just for good measure, I will. I _trust you_, Link."

* * *

Link walked her in front of Saria's house and Meghan said goodnight to Link. He did the same. She walked into Saria's house partway. When Link had turned around and walked away, she leaned out the doorway and watched him walk away from her.

She sighed. Today was certainly an…interesting day. True, she had fun, but it was...

It was hard to tell what she felt today. The day had started, so eager and full of promise…then confusion…then happiness…then fright….then embarrassment…then captivation….then forgetfulness…then more confusion…

She had experienced a host of different things today…but this one feeling…rose above all others. A prominent, lingering feeling. One that she really never felt much before. It danced around in her insides, both anxiously and happily. What…

She quickly dismissed it as she walked back inside. N_othing. It was nothing._

* * *

_Idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot! How could I let things go so wrong for her?_ Today was a…mistake day. It should never have happened like that, she should never have had to go through that…brainwashing, embarrassment. Damn those Gerudos. He would never understand them. And she was so fascinated by them, too, their exotic ways and looks.

"Link, what's the matter?" Navi asked in Hylian as Link gently knocked his head on the wooden wall of his home.

"Navi how could I have done that to her?" he asked, removing himself from his self-tormenting.

"What did you do? You didn't do anything, that's what," she said, fixing his hair.

"Stop that," he said, waving her away. "I couldn't have made today worse if I tried."

"First of all, you didn't do anything."

"Yes I did," he said, turning and sinking to the floor, leaning against the wall. The Gerudos always cause pain, suffering…but he supposed that he was only thinking of that one person. He really had to get that terrible stereotype out of his head. Still, they were making it hard…

"How could you have ever known what was going to happen? You couldn't have, Link. And you know it."

"But I brought her there...I should have made it go well for her."

"It's Nabooru's fault, not yours." Link considered this for a moment.

"No. It's mine. Nabooru probably made her happier than I did. She loves it there, actually."

Navi turned a brighter white, her way of smiling. "You just don't want to admit that you're wrong. You know it wasn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself, Link. You are perfect and she sees that."

"But Navi..."

"You are so difficult!"

* * *

Meghan didn't want to sleep; it was too early. _Never want to sleep, never want to wake. It like I don't want to sleep, I miss things when I do…but then I dream within my sleep and don't want to wake._

So she grabbed a fluffy, absorbent towel that Saria had lent to her and went outside in the direction of the waterfall showers. It had been just her luck that every time she'd been here, none of the Kokiri girls had been taking showers so she didn't have to worry about feeling self conscious here.

When she stepped in the shower, she knew immediately that she would never want to leave. The water was warm and refreshing, and the way the gentle waterfall cascaded over her body made her feel relaxed and forgetful. She grabbed a bit of the soap that the Kokiri made themselves, which smelled beautifully of pine trees and flowers, and scrubbed her hair clean of sand and other nonsense.

Before long, she found herself sitting with her eyes closed, hugging her arms to herself in the small, streaming pool of water beside the waterfall. She suddenly felt Link's hand on her waist, his other warm hand wrapped around hers, and she rocked with the memory of the music she'd heard. Her thoughts turned strange, weird musings floating around her head. She opened her eyes and realized she'd been drifting asleep. She stood up before, knowing she'd drift right off again if she let herself, rinsed off again, and wrapped the towel around herself.

When she was dressed, she skipped back to Saria's house, feeling wonderfully clean. She hung her towel up and, despite her stubbornness and resistance to sleep, she fell asleep within seconds of lying down on the bed. She had had a strange, action packed day that made no sense. She thought again of being embarrassed by the way she'd been dressed, the way she'd let herself be under the influence like that, in public. Still, sleep came although she was planning to resist it…

And then she had a dream. It was the strangest dream…

They went to this place. But who was they? She knew it was herself…but somebody else…who? The place was like a volcano, with much lava flowing and fire! It had an entrance to each of the temples…shadow, spirit, water…wait, but was there fire and forest?

She walked through the shadows…behind things and in the dark…

But then, when she left, they were in the desert. Her mom was there. Wait…mom…? Her mom told her they had to sleep in these large circular boxes that were like jewelry boxes for rings, with the little hole things in the middle for rings. And they actually had rings in them…

But Meghan's box was so crammed full with jewelry that she could barely fit. And then there was this red-headed fox demon there…who's that? He was pretty cute. And he kept complaining he was lonely, but none of the other boys wanted to hang out with him.

It was a strange dream.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Navi." Link apologized a few minutes later. "You were right, but it's still my fault somewhat."

"That's all right, Linky-winky," she said, giving him a fairy kiss on the forehead.

"Stop doing that," he said, wiping his head, but he smiled at his fairy. Some days that little fairy kept him from losing his mind.

"I'm going to sleep!"

"Good night then, Navi."

"Night!" Navi flew over to the window, where she slept on a tiny blanket. It was funny when she slept. According to her color, he could tell what she was dreaming of.

He sat on his bed. _Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep…oh great._

He fell asleep.

* * *

**OK, the FUNNIEST thing is the world is imagining the part of this chapter where she gets drunk and goes with the Gerudo girls to this version of the song "Habanera" from Carmen sung by Charlotte Church (I know, sounds lame at first, but this song has a great beat!). Except, like half way through the song when it really drops, I imagine her coming back, dressed like a Gerudo, dancing all drunkish and provocatively around Link, and he's just kinda like whaa? :D I really wish I had the resources to make a video of what I see in my head. :D**


	17. Remix: Day Three: Guess Who!

**Day Three (120 Hours Remain) (lolz jk again)**

Meghan's strange dream continued. This time, she dreamed of all the sages. They were all on the floor…but where was Zelda?

* * *

_What…I fell asleep? No! I fell asleep! Gotta get up before…she does…_

Link sat up groggily, still unused to the feeling. Goddesses, he just wanted to lay back down…he really loved this sleep thing.

"Morning, Link!" Navi said, flying around his face.

"Morning, Navi," he said tiredly. He sat hunched over, trying to wake himself.

"Just like you used to be when you were a kid! I couldn't wake you up for the world!" Navi squeaked.

He laughed. That finally got him to force himself up. He stretched, then got dressed. He fit his hat on his head, the final touch. He took a look at himself in his tiny mirror, just for a second. Then he turned.

He strapped on his sword, then walked out, hoping Meghan wasn't awake yet. He walked the short distance to Saria's house.

Carefully, he peeked through a window. _Sleeping. Perfect._

"Navi, do you know what time it is?"

"No…I'll go look. Hold on."

"Thank you. I don't want to wake her up too early." Navi 'smiled'. "Don't think anything."

"I'm not…tee hee."

"Navi!"

"But I'm not!" she flew over to the entrance to the Lost Woods, where a gossip stone was located. She flew back a few seconds later. "It's 9:33!" she said joyously, flying in circles.

Link walked in the house. She was lying belly down, her face to the side and her cheeks puffy.

Link walked up to her.

"Meghan…Meghan, wake up, Meghan." He shook her. "Meghan, please get up." She lay still. "Meghan, please get up." She lay still, still. "Meghan?" he asked. "Meghan…" he said. "What's…what's the matter?" _Is she breathing? _"OK, you can stop that now, Meghan." Silence. "Yes, I know you want to play a good trick like Nabooru's, but it's not working." Meghan still didn't respond. He became scared. He kneeled down on the floor next to her. He shook her again, slightly harder. She didn't seem to be breathing. "No! Oh, no…what…what…" he didn't know what to do. What was wrong with her? "Meghan?" he put his hand over her heart…was it beating? _No, what am I thinking! Of course it is! Of course she's breathing._

She stirred. Was she just a really deep sleeper?

"Meghan, don't do that again!" she didn't answer him. She removed herself from him, staying eerily silent. He stood. Her head stayed down, her eyes closed. She walked towards him, wobbly. Half asleep.

"Meghan what are you doing?" he asked. She didn't respond, but stopped walking.

Then, after a few seconds of silence, she said, "You thought you could get rid of me." Her voice was full of tire and mumbles, and he barely understood what she'd said.

"Get…rid of…you?" he asked, confused. She suddenly lifted her head, but her eyes remained closed.

"You thought I was gone, you thought you could lock me away in the Sacred Realm, kid." She took a step toward him.

"Meghan, what are you doing?" he asked, scared. _No…_

"Fool..." she yelled. "Do you not realize..."

"Meghan, what are you doing?" He was scared now, desperate. This couldn't be...she looked and sounded half asleep...

"I am not that idiot girl..." She wobbled to the other side, and he was afraid she'd fall.

"Then who are you?"

"I will take over...Hyrule..." She fell to the floor, and he rushed to catch her.

"Meghan, what are you doing? Wake up!"

"I had...to take somebody who didn't have magical abilities...I can torture you…taking over Hyrule…she's…in Hyrule who...no magical abilities. The only way to…mm…kill her."


	18. Remix: Day III Part II: Unicorn Fountain

**Dear goddesses! I found so many mistakes in this chapter! Ahhh, no! OK. hold on! This is just a placeholder! I'm fixing them as we speak (well, as you read I suppose O.o).**

* * *

Link gasped, taking her by the arms and shaking her, pulling her face close to his so he could observe it. What was _wrong_ with her? Her head rolled back.

Then her eyes opened. "So weird," she said in a hoarse voice, lifting her head. She stopped sudden, looking up to find herself close to Link. Like, really close, man. Her dream was thick in her mind, but she was extremely confused as to why she was on the floor and Link's face was near hers, his hands gripping her tightly. She laughed. "What are you doing?" She was now laughing out of nervousness. Link seemed…livid. He had a distant but _livid_ expression on his face. She extricated herself from him with difficulty, but he didn't seem to move.

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist. Tightly.

"Auuh!" she cried, surprised, looking at him straight into his serious, large eyes. The way his eyebrows slanted in made him look…scary.

"Don't _ever_ do that again," he said. "Never," he growled deeply. He _scared_ her. _He actually was scaring her..._

"I'm...sorry..." she said, confused, moving backwards. Wait...hadn't she just been _dreaming_? There was no way he could know what was happening in her dream. She'd been dreaming that Ganon was taking over everyone's minds, pitting everyone against Link. Had she been...sleepwalking...? That would explain why she was on the floor. "Was I sleepwalking?" she asked, laughing. Why would he get so upset about that?

"It was _not_ funny!" he said, squeezing her wrist. His hand was shaking. His fingers dug deep into her arm. She didn't think he was hurting her purposely…maybe it was just because he was scared. He wanted to know she was really there. "Forced to face a decision like that…I don't know what I would do." His grip on her wrist lessened, but he still held on.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to...Link…" She tried pulling away. He wouldn't budge.

"Are you sure you're you?" he asked, still not letting go. He was still staring her down.

"Yes I'm sure," she said, looking down at her hand. "Link…"

"Yes?" he exhaled sharply.

"You're...hurting me," she said seriously. This time, he really was. He looked down, as if he didn't realize he was. He quickly let go. She rubbed it.

"I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry," he said emphatically. He shook his head, looking away. _What the hell was that? How could she do such a thing to me, even in her sleep? This is ridiculous..._

The thought of that scene actually happening...it killed him inside.

"No, _I'm_ sorry! I don't know why I would have...been sleepwalking…" She was certain she'd never done that before. She imagined her mom breaking out the psychological mumbo jumbo - meeting Ganondorf and being hurt by him had somehow scarred her psyche. She didn't consciously feel affected because she knew he was gone, but was she subconsciously affected by the experience? It would make sense. She'd never felt so in danger before.

His look softened, and he looked very upset. "…It's OK." He pulled her into a hug. She was surprised by his ferocious embrace. He squeezed her tightly to himself. She felt the insatiable need to console him. He was still shaking and not letting go for anything, his face buried in her shoulder. It was a strange moment, in which he seemed _vulnerable_, something she rarely ever saw him as. She felt it to be her job to protect him. Her inside were squirming, though. With her arms around his torso, muscles tense...stop thinking about that. She forced her mind elsewhere.

"You've...made two promises to me, that I remember," she started. He lifted his head slowly, listening. "One, you promised you wouldn't fail." In reality, he actually promised he wouldn't get hurt, but Meghan tweaked it. He probably didn't remember anyway. "If you were ever faced with such a decision, don't fail Hyrule. That's what you gotta do."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she continued. "And two, you promised that one day you would bring me home. Thank you...for keeping that promise."

"I…kept that one?" He thought she was referring to the inevitable day approaching...and couldn't believe she would _thank_ him for that. Did she still want to leave? He'd gotten the impression that she didn't.

"Yeah, this is my home now."

He surprised in a good way, but he didn't say anything. He let her go.

"I hurt you," he said quietly, taking her wrist in his hands gently to inspect it. It was slightly red, but didn't seem damaged. He resisted the urge to bring it closer to his face...

"I've gotten hurt before. But here I am. Good as new. Maybe better."

"Now we must make a promise to each other."

"What is that?"

"We won't fail each other." Meghan looked into his eyes.

"I…promise."

"And I promise as well. Good."

They both smiled.

After a moment pause, he said, "I came to ask what you wanted to do today."

She thought for a second. "I don't know...maybe we can wander around and find something to do on the way?" She smiled. Damn, did she have morning breath? She was pretty close to him. It was embarrassing. Her hair?

"Sure, sounds like a plan. Maybe we can go to Lon Lon and borrow a horse."

"Yeah! Sounds good!"

She quickly got dressed when he left. She eyed the Kokiri sword again. After having a staring contest with it, she grabbed it and put it on.

When they got to the green field, Meghan had a different idea.

"Let's have a sword fight."

"What?" he asked, flashes of the morning floating by in his head. "Are you well enough for that?"

"O'course I am! Are you ready?" She drew her sword and bowed to him. He just stared at her, with no weapons in his hand. "Come on; take it out…" he didn't do anything. "OK, your funeral." She rushed at him, trying to stab him. He just moved to the side.

"Umm…OK, you win," he said. _No, I do not want to fight you. Do you have any idea how much I hate that idea?_

"No! I want a real fight, please? Don't hold back! I can take it!"

"I really don't want to…" She put her sword at his neck.

"Unsheathe your sword."

"Meghan, I really don't want to fight you..." he said, thinking of the morning's events. The idea of it was still just too painful to him.

"Please?" she asked, removing her sword from its mildly threatening position. "I need to desensitize you." He needed to get over his fear!

"Uh…fine." He unsheathed his own sword. His heart ached. _This girl can't even fight...she is so vulnerable._

"Are you ready yet?"

"I suppose…"

"Come on!" She slashed at him. He parried, pushing her sword away. She slashed him again, this time vertically. He stopped it by pushing it to the side.

"We need to get you a better sword."

"What would I ever do with it?" she asked, trying to hit him again. He blocked it, this time she tried to hold it there, swords locked in an 'x' position.

"I don't know." He pushed on her sword. She held it, quivering a bit, unable to hold his immense strength. "It could be just in case.

"I don't know if I could use anything much better than this." She pushed with all her strength. "I'm too weak."

"Do you want to switch weapons?" he asked, smiling behind their blades.

"No way! I couldn't even _hold_ that sword, most likely."

"Too bad I don't have the Master Sword anymore." The Master Sword had just felt…_right_ in his hands, from the moment he'd touched it.

"Yeah…" Their swords slid down each other's. Meghan jumped back to avoid being cut by his weapon as it crashed downward. She turned in a circle, held the sword in one hand, and attacked Link from the side.

"That was a nice move," he complimented, blocking it. "Only too slow." Gosh, so critical.

"How come I'm the only one who's attacking?" There was no answer. "Hey, I told you not to hold back!"

"I can't, Meghan. One time when I hit you, you started to leak." He knew how much that annoyed her. Even though _now_ he knew well what blood was, he used that incorrect term because, for some reason, she was protective of her blood.

"Hey! It's not called _leaking_. You said that on purpose!"

"Yes." He grinned.

"I'll get you for that!" She rushed forward, taking him by surprise. She was close to hitting him on the wrist, but stopped before she could.

"Wow. That was good."

"I…I hit you? I actually hit you? The Hero of Time? I hit the Hero of Time?"

"Yup." Why was she so happy about this?

"I…hit you?"

"Yes, you did."

"Aha. I HIT YOU! I HIT you! YAY!" She celebrated as Link kinda whole-heartedly congratulated her…

They did not know they had a spectator.

* * *

An old man, dressed in a brown, adorned robe, had watched their whole battle. A wise, firm old man, seriousness etched into the lines of his face. He watched as they partied, he watched the girl. The human, that girl who had become close to their hero. She had grown, in strength and character since she came here.

Now as he watched them, fighting as friends, they seemed so childish. He still thought of the hero as the child who lay unconscious in the Chamber of the Sages, capable of carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulder. But the worst was over. He could relax again. When tensions had been high, in the times of the evil king, he'd had reason to be so serious. The Hero of Time had defeated the evil, along with the princess, thought the sage, Rauru. He had done his destined duty. Now, Rauru thought, he should be free.

* * *

It was Link first noticed who was watching them. Just as Meghan was about to strike, he lowered his sword and put his hand up. She almost hit it, but stopped. She turned around and saw Rauru walking towards them.

"_It's Rauru,_" she whispered to Link. He nodded. "_What's he doing here?_" Link shrugged a little shrug. Neither had ever seen him outside the Sacred Realm.

"_We'll find out._" He walked to Rauru, who was walking towards them. "Hello Sage Rauru…"

"Hello, Hero. Hello, Meghan." _Finally! They didn't call me human!_ The elderly man smiled an old man smile. They smiled back, to be polite.

"Hi-" she started, hyper, but then said, "Hello, Sage."

"Would you like to follow me?" Meghan and Link looked at each other, then smiled at Rauru. "Please, come this way. We must go the Temple of Time."

"Why must we go there?" Link asked, as Rauru turned and began walking at his turtle pace.

"We shall have a tea party." Meghan and Link looked at each other again. Meghan loved tea, but was this kinda weird that Rauru just appeared and told them that was what they were doing. She felt nervous because he was _important_. With that _important_ _vibe_, unlike the other sages, who were quite laid back. She walked straighter and was quiet.

They walked across the field to Hyrule Castle Town, which was being rebuilt, as Rauru told them.

"Princess Zelda and the sages removed all traces of evil from the area. It is now safe, once again."

"Are they rebuilding the castle as well?" Link asked.

"Yes. You shall see when we get there." Within a few minutes, they had reached the entrance to the town. They walked over the now fixed bridge.

There were the carpenters, the whole company of them. Their boss was standing in the middle of the town, yelling orders. The town looked amazing. The face of it seemed to have been torn down and new buildings were on their way up. Buildings farther from the center of town seemed to be more intact and were not being rebuilt.

"Wow…" Link said, walking into the town. "It's like…it's like it was when I was…a kid. How could they do this so quickly?"

"It's so awesome!" Meghan interjected.

"The houses were mostly unperturbed by the evil, so the center of town was the priority. And the castle…is even better." Rauru said. "Come, see!" Meghan and Link followed him. They walked across the small town to the castle on the other end.

When they entered, they gasped. The castle was almost as it was seven years ago.

"How did they build it so fast?"

"With a little magic, of course!" A girl's voice said. They turned…they knew that voice!

"Zelda!" Meghan said, going towards her. Zelda was wearing a light blue dress. Her hair was pulled into a bun, with two pieces hanging down.

"How are you, Meghan?" she said, giving her a kiss on both cheeks.

"I'm great!" Zelda walked up to Link, and gave him a kiss as well.

"How are you, Link?" she asked. Link blushed.

"I'm fine. How are you? Princess?" he said, bowing jokingly. She giggled.

"Oh stop that! Please, don't! Well, busy, but that's what you would expect." She sighed. "We've been building this place for days nonstop."

"Oh. So…the carpenters…can use magic?" Meghan asked.

"No, silly!"

"Well, your castle is beautiful," Meghan said.

"Thank you! And as soon as the interior is finished, you have to come and visit every day!"

"You seem so happy," Meghan observed, smiling. She was glad! She didn't know the princess well, but every time she'd seen her, she hadn't exactly been jumping for joy.

"Well, it's really just…" Zelda said, looking down. "It took me a few days for me to really realize...that I am the leader now." She looked up, her face earnest. "Can you imagine? I was so young when my parents led this country...I never imagined I'd have to take their place so soon. Yet, I've had so much time to prepare…"

"Zelda, please don't be stressed. You're a perfect leader." She just knew it.

"I just want my people to be content."

"See, that's exactly what makes you a good ruler!"

"Zelda, you are destined to rule us. You will be perfect. You don't have to worry," Link said knowingly.

"Yup!"

"Thank you, my friends." Zelda said, but her gaze drifted to the side as a look of horror fell on her face. "I'm so glad you could come by, but I'm terribly sorry, I must leave before that carpenter hurts himself. Hey, be careful!" she said, walking quickly to him, holding up her long gown. She turned and said, "Ichiro! Don't hurt yourself, please!" The carpenter was trying to lift a large piece of stone.

"It's OK, Zelda!" Meghan said, laughing.

"We will see you soon," Link said, though she didn't seem to be listening.

"Oh, goddesses." She put her hand to her head as poor Ichiro dropped the stone on his foot. She started fussing over the man when she got to him.

"Shall we go?" Rauru asked.

"Oh…yeah…"

"She seems busy. She has to be a sage…a princess…and everything else."

"She is wonderful at it, though. And at such a young age. She is just right for the job," Rauru said. He spoke fondly of the young monarch as he led them to the Temple of Time. She had no idea what he was saying half the time. But he was old. So perhaps she should give him a break…

"Be ready, friends, I am going to bring us to the Sacred Realm."

She hoped they had sugar.

As they walked in the Temple, Meghan saw the…the pedestal…

In less than four days, he would have to put it back…

She breathed deeply and tried to forget it. Rauru brought them to the Sacred Realm.

The place they got transported into was beautiful. It was a garden, with a table in the middle. Flowers bloomed everywhere, vines hung from the arbor above the table. Behind it was a path lined with more colorful flowers in full bloom. It led to a gazebo. Inside the gazebo, vines with vibrantly colored flowers hung from the ceiling. To the right of the gazebo, there was a small stream. It ran under the path, where there was a small bridge, to the other side of the garden. There, it ran up a waterfall. It kept going, right into the sky as far as Meghan could see.

"The Garden of the Goddesses' Wish," Link said. "I've heard Kokiri legends of this place. I never knew it actually existed. It's rumored that that waterfall runs right into the small one in the Kokiri forest."

"That is true," Rauru confirmed.

"Wow, this Sacred Realm is…strange. No offense," she added quickly. "It's beautiful." Really, it was. It was a sunny paradise…but...there was no sun.

"Would you like tea now?" Rauru asked. Meghan nodded. Perhaps she would have fun, after all. "I shall fetch it." He disappeared behind a wall covered in more vines. Just sorta phased through it. She watched in awe.

"So, you know about this place?" Meghan asked Link, walking out across the path, and over the bridge. She looked at the waterfall, seeing how high it went.

"Well, it's also said that the goddesses came here and made a wish for Hyrule's war to be over. But they knew they couldn't stop it, since it was a mortal's struggle. So they wished, using their godly power, that the inhabitants of Hyrule would end their war soon on their own."

"Is that the same war…from when you were a baby?"

"No, a much earlier war."

"Perhaps…perhaps that has something to do with why your mother went to the Kokiri forest, if this really leads to it," she said, walking to the waterfall. It was very thin and the water flowed in an almost perfectly straight line. She put her hand above it, and felt the water rush upward at her hand, yet the water above kept flowing even though she blocked the stream's path. She gasped a bit. She would never get used to this magic stuff…

"Maybe," he said, picking a flower from a vine beside the stream. He walked up behind her. "It was a very good idea," he spoke in a calm, quiet voice, giving the flower to her. She took it delicately. He seemed so at ease now, unlike he had been this morning. Back to his strong persona. Impervious.

"Oh, it's beautiful! What a pretty flower!" The flower was a red rose, but there were no thorns on its stem and it was small.

"Maybe my mother was guided to the forest by the goddesses."

"So the goddesses really were here?"

"I believe so. But you should not be surprised; did you not see the goddesses once?"

"I…did in my dream. But that was really nothing. It was just a dream. You know, I didn't even believe in my own world's god until I came here."

"Dreams are not always just dreams. Sometimes they are true. A _lot_ of times they come true. And your god seems to be rather elusive."

"Yeah, he really didn't like to make his presence known." She wondered why that was. She was certain everyone in Hyrule knew, for sure, their goddesses existed. She'd never had reason to believe that God existed, but now it just seemed so obvious.

"The Goddesses of Hyrule are very much present in our lives here, but I'm sure you know that by know," he told her as they walked back over to where they first came in. "I think Rauru is returning."

"How do you know these things?"

"I can feel…"

"Must be a Hylian thing."

"No, really. It's not too hard. Come here." She tottered over to him. "Listen." She listened for a while.

"I don't-"

"Shh." She listened. She listened. And she listened. And she waited.

"Here he comes."

"I'm telling you, it must be the ears. I have annoyingly short ears." She felt so left out.

Rauru, sure enough, returned a few seconds later with a tray of tea and sugar! Also, there was an array of Hylian pastries.

"Wow, this looks so delicious! I like sugar."

Rauru heard her. He chuckled. Link went forward to take the heavy tray from Rauru.

"Well, there is plenty. So drink up." Meghan, Link and Rauru walked to the table and sat down. They pleasantly conversed, until a bit later they reached a dead spot in their conversation. With nothing left to say, they sat and quietly drank tea. Link seemed to have trouble swallowing it. He didn't like it too much, and she could tell. After a minute of silence, Rauru asked, "So how have you been enjoying your visits from the sages?"

"Visits?" Link asked.

"Yes, you saw a sage yesterday, did you not?"

"Yeah…" Meghan said.

"And one the day before…"

"Oh! You're right! I didn't realize that until now."

"It was a good idea on Princess Zelda's part."

"Zelda?" Link asked.

"Yes, a plan…but you…did you not know? Oh! Foolish me! I just recalled…it was a secret…I do believe you were supposed to figure it out by yourself."

Meghan almost laughed. _Oh. Really._

"Ah, well. It's not a problem. But, speaking of sages, Nabooru and some others seem to think that Link is in some sort of relationship…but they will not tell me more."

Meghan choked on the bit of pastry she had just tried to ingest. She gave the universal sign for choking. She started coughing. Obviously, Hyrule wasn't part of the "universe."

"Meghan, are you OK?" she didn't respond, her voice not working. "What's the matter?"

"(Insert choking noises)"

"What's wrong?" Rauru asked, looking to Link for the answer. She thought. _Seriously, Hylians don't choke? They must be the all time most perfect beings!_ She finally calmed down, the lump fading down her throat.

"Meghan, what happened?" Knowing that he was a bit…cautious…do to this morning's events, Meghan tried to explain as best she could while not completely stabbing him for letting her choke like that. Not that she would ever have a reason to do so, since, let's see, how many times had he saved her behind? Too many to even think about counting. _But he didn't know what choking was…?_

"OK. It's called choking. When food gets stuck in your trachea, that's your wind pipe where you breathe, due to the epiglottis not closing in time, or not completely closing, you can't breathe and then you choke, because the food is on the way to your lungs. So your first reaction is coughing, and then if you can't get it out you will pass out within a short amount of time." Rauru and Link both looked at her. Link looked to Rauru, opening his mouth in order to make some sort of explanation for her, but Rauru spoke first.

"Well! What an intelligent girl you are!" Rauru said, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, I guess it's just a…" she looked around, embarrassed, "a human thing…"

"Yes, well…" Link said. "Next time try explaining in Hylian terms," he said with a wink, so Rauru didn't feel too stupid. Even though he understood it a bit, Rauru didn't. Link had certain…knowledge of things from her constant explanations. He still had no idea what an epiglottis was or a trachea…but he dealt with it.

"So, as I was saying," Rauru said after moments of silence. "The girls, mostly, they have this crazy notion…"

"Have you any idea what the time is?" she inquired, noticing that Link was reddening. She would have been too. But, you know, she can't.

"I shall see. There is a gossip stone behind there. I shall be right back…" He got up and slowly walked over to where it was.

Once he was out of earshot, Meghan told Link, "Yup. Definitely senile. I think he's remembering things that never happened."

"Meghan…perhaps…maybe they think something."

"No way!" Meghan giggled. .

"What's so funny?"

"He is. He's strangely odd. Then again, I must be so strange too, so…"

"You're not strange, just a different species."

"Yes, I know. I am a human. There are so many species in Hyrule, but I'm the only one here…"

"Don't feel lonely. You have lots of unique people here to keep you company."

"Meaning yourself." She winked.

"Well…no!"

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "I guess we're all strange and individual."

"Yes." Rauru was returning. She sat back up as Rauru approached them. "Thank you ever so much, Rauru. So the time is…?"

"It is 13:00."

"Already?"

"Yes."

"I guess we were having fun! Time sure flies," Meghan said thoughtfully.

"Well, splendid! Would anybody like more tea?"

"Uhh…no thank you?" Meghan said, adding sugar to the cup she had that had been filled for the fifth time already. Unwillingly. She poured half of it on the flowers when Rauru wasn't looking. Link gave her another look, and then tried to choke down his umpteenth cup. He didn't get much down. She loved tea, but this…was…

"_Add more sugar!_" Meghan suggested. She took the sugar and added half the thing of it to his tea, as he gently tried to stop her. She smiled at the tea.

"Please, desist," Rauru said, laughing at their antics.

She realized she'd probably put too much sugar in the tea for him."Wanna switch?" She definitely had a bigger sweet tooth.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, why not?"

"No reason…here." He slid his cup and switched spots with hers. She stared down into the cup…and realized she couldn't drink it. The idea of drinking something that Link's lips had touched both repulsed and intrigued her to the point of making her heart skip a beat. She didn't do more than place her hands around the fragile, white, and warm porcelain teacup. But she noticed Link bring her former cup to his mouth, unabashed, and take a sip. Her heart skipped again. How could he just be so _bold_?

Instead of drinking, she reached for another pastry, which was long and thin and seemed to be lightly dusted in crystalline sugar. It looked delicious, and when she took a bite it tasted like cinnamon.

They lightly chatted some more, Meghan staying quieter than she had been.

"Well, soon I must meet with the sages. You are welcome to stay here, but I will leave you a way to leave when you are done. Are you finished with your tea?"

"Yes," Meghan said, looking down to the now cold cup she hadn't had the courage to drink.

"I shall take them with me."

"Do you need help cleaning up?" Link asked, standing right away to put things together.

"No, no. You just stay here."

"Are you certain?" he was stacking their cups on the tray.

"Of course. Now, let me take that."

"Thank you," Meghan said, putting her cup on the tray thing.

They cleaned up the table, and then Rauru said, "Well, I must leave now." He put down the tray. "Here is the portal." He stretched out his hands and yellow lights floated out of them. "Just step through this wall when you are done. Goodbye my friends. Let the goddesses guide you." He turned himself into the orb of light that sages used to travel, and left.

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know, do you want to go?" he asked, though he personally wished he could stay in the beautiful garden. It was warm and perfect in here. And it was strange, in her dark, black clothes, she didn't seem to belong in the colorful garden, but at the same time, she did.

"It's sorta purdy here…" she said, taking the flower he gave her and skipping down the path.

"Well, I don't think the goddesses would come here if it wasn't."

"So they were _actually_ here?"

"You keep asking that question."

"Yes, it's just hard to believe, since I'm also standing here. Can you imagine? A goddess?"

"What's so hard to believe about it?"

"I dunno…" she said, skipping over the small bridge, and farther down the path into the white gazebo. She sat down, positioning herself so that she could see out of it. It had large spaces between the beams holding it up. It was closed on the bottom up to the benches, which ran around its circumference, except in the four openings. The benches had soft, gold colored cushions on them. Each of the four openings led to a different path, one to the stream, which turned into a small, clear pond on the opposite side of the waterfall. One to the back, where the gardens extended and now she could see the gossip stone, with its one eye staring at her. The third led to the side of the stream where the upside down waterfall was, and the last of course led back to the table.

He followed her to the gazebo. He went in, and found a spot to sit next to her. She sat back, not looking at him. She just stared forward, smiling. After a while, she started giggling.

"What's so funny?" he asked, grinning.

"The sky…" she said, looking into the roof.

"That's not the sky, in case you were thinking that," he laughed

"I'm just kidding! Sorry, I'm an idiot." She smiled at him, but his face became serious.

"No, never say that. You are not. Believe me, you are the complete opposite!"

"Bleh, I am an idiot sometimes." She still felt bad about that morning, though she couldn't really have helped it.

"You're not an idiot!" he said.

_Ugh! Can't he just accept that I am? I mean, he's a…dumb blond…_

"Can I say something?"

"Sure…" He wondered what she would say. Something important? Something...he wanted her to say?

"You promise you won't get angry?"

"Well…" he joked, smiling again.

"OK, then I won't tell you." She pretended pout and turned away from him, crossing her arms.

"No, tell me."

"You have to promise."

"Do I have to?" he asked, still joking.

_Fine I'm not going to tell you._ "Hey, please!"

"OK! I promise."

"OK…" She hesitated for a second. "Don't be angry, but…" She stopped for a few seconds.

"Did you break something of mine?" He was laughing at himself now.

"No! It's just...I am an idiot…but I…I think...you'reso_smart_butyou'rea_dumb_blondsometimes."

He looked at her for a second. "Excuse me?" he asked. He had no idea what she'd just blurted out.

"I said, you are the most intelligent dumb blond I have ever met."

"What does that mean? I'm intelligent, but dumb." He seemed amused.

"Yeah, well where I come from, people call blond people…never mind."

"No, I want to know what rumors about us blonds go about on Earth." He turned towards her, slightly tilting his head to show he was listening.

"Nothing! Hey, isn't this place pretty?" she changed the subject.

"Yeah…I guess…" he sighed. He had a feeling that hadn't been what she'd wanted to say. Maybe he'd ruined it for her by joking.

"You guess?"

"Not nearly as pretty…as some other things," he spoke deliberately, calmly, while looking straight into her eyes. He took the flower he'd given her from where it was, still clasped in her hand. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, so small she barely noticed, then reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear and put the flower there. She opened her mouth, as if to say something while watching him, but then closed it. She couldn't believe he'd just done that. What? Her heart started beating quickly. He smiled at her, but then looked away, also embarrassed, and she swore she saw a bit of red growing on his cheeks.

Finally, she said, "Thank you." She looked down at her lap. _Dumb blond. He's so sweet…_

"For?" he asked, turning back to her.

"Everything…everything…" He studied her face, her eyes averted. She had her hands clasped together in her lap. Suddenly she looked up.

"I wonder what the date is." She was drawing a blank.

"The date?"

"Yeah…I mean, in my world. Like…I think it's April." She thought for a second. She started counting on her fingers. "Lessee…that day was...March 29th, I think, and then…there were a few weeks in between." She looked upward, counting… "Today is April…24th. Hey! My birthday is…" she stopped for a second. "The day after…" she didn't finish the sentence. But he knew what she was talking about. He was shocked. Really? Her birthday was so soon...but so far...

"How old will you be turning?" he asked, trying to make her forget, though his own insides were turning with the realization of this unlucky fate of theirs.

"Uh…"

"Umm…sixteen," she said quietly.

"How old?"

"Sixteen," she said again, trying not to smile.

"What was that?" She looked up and playfully hit him on the arm.

"SIXTEEN! You heard me!"

"You hit me again! That's not nice," he said, rubbing his arm.

"Sor-ry," she said, all attitude-like.

"That's OK…I think I'll survive. But I don't know."

"Oh come on, wimp. I hit you twice today."

"That's not very nice of you." He might as well have stuck his tongue out at her.

"You asked for it."

"Actually you started it both times."

"OK fine!"

They laughed.

They chatted pleasantly for the remainder of the hour. Then, around two o'clock, they decided to leave.

They exited through the portal left by Rauru. They returned to the Temple of Time, right next to the Pedestal. When Meghan saw it, she took in a sharp breath. She walked quickly out past where the Door of Time was and past the Stones. He followed her, sharing her sentiments.

Once outside, they could see the town being built. Even more progress had been made. Shiro and Ichiro were working in the town now, but the Chief, Sabooru and Jiro were not around, or at least anywhere they could see. They might have been working on the castle…

"Link! Meghan! Hello again!" They heard Zelda's voice.

"Hi!" Meghan said, waving to her.

"Did you have fun with Rauru?" she asked, grinning.

"Uh…we had much fun!"

Zelda giggled. "Oh, he did it again. He seems to think that drinking tea and eating is very fun for adolescents…" she said, looking toward the ground. "On a lighter note," she looked up. "Meghan, Link, the town is almost finished! I am so excited, this is turning out to be wonderful!" But Meghan, not wanting to ruin Zelda's fun, was thinking, _what will happen if we all go back and this never happened or something? I wonder if it will make a difference, will the future still have happened? Or will it never be, and they have to start all over from the beginning? _

"Link, if you'll let me," Link looked at Zelda suddenly, "I'd like to steal Meghan for the afternoon." Meghan looked at her too. _She was going to go with a princess? WHAT THE HECK? _

"Sure…why not?"

"Zelda, what…"

"Oh, you'll see!"

"_But what…what about Link_?" she whispered to her.

"I have something I need to do, anyway. It's fine, really."

"Oh wonderful!" Zelda said. "I promise, you won't be sorry!" she grabbed Meghan's hand and led her towards the castle.

"Um, I'll see you later!" Meghan called.

"Good bye, Link! I shall see you!"

"Uh, bye…" he watched them go, and then walked out to the field. "There's definitely something I've got to do." He walked towards Lon Lon Ranch.

* * *

"What is it Zelda?"

"Oh, well…you'll have to wait and see!"

Zelda smiled a radiant smile. It was so infectious, Meghan had to smile too.

"Exactly." Meghan giggled. They walked past guards, then past Sabooru and Jiro, who were walking the opposite way. Zelda waved to them. They waved too, looking shy. Soon they were within the gates of the castle. Walking past even more guards, Meghan recognized the basic layout of the area. Although the grass was just beginning to grow, and the landscape was a bit different, it seemed so much like it had been seven years ago. The molten lava pit was not there any longer, nor was the tower that once housed a great evil.

They walked up the path to the castle, where the drawbridge was down. Zelda walked over it, guards bowing to her as she did.

"Please, don't," she said, walking to one and straightening him. "I don't want you to, please." She smiled sweetly at them.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And none of this 'your highness' business. Please, call me Zelda."

"Yes, Princess Zelda."

"Oh, we'll have to work on that. Come along, Meghan."

"Zelda, it is our duty to check every person who comes along here," said a guard in front of them. He seemed to be a high-ranking guard, due to the cape that flowed off his armor. He didn't look very capable, though…

"You will not check Meghan, if that is what you are thinking." Zelda rolled her eyes, turning to Meghan. Meghan felt like she was missing something.

"You should not just let any girl into your castle, Princess Zelda."

"This is not just any girl. This is my dear friend, and a savior of your country."

"Princess, I am merely saying that we should do a small background check…you can never trust anyone completely."

"General Shina, please. Do you so question my judgment? Do I seem that naïve? Please, General, step aside. Excuse us." Zelda stepped past him, and with a glare from him, Meghan did too, skittering to get away from him and back to Zelda's protection.

"Uh…I don't mean to cause trouble, Zelda. I-"

"Please think nothing of it. I wish to replace him. Impa would do nicely…but she is more of… a sage…or that spy!" she sighed dreamily, "Yes, yes he would do very nicely. I really do wish to replace him."

"Is he really that bad?"

"Yes, what you just saw him do is something he does often. You see, he was in charge when my father ruled, and seemed quite loyal. But I think he may have…been in allegiance with Ganondorf. I'm not sure, but he seems to hate that this land shall be a matriarchy. I really don't mean to cause any trouble…"

"Zelda, don't think that you are, because you aren't."

"I suppose…" She suddenly perked up. "But we cannot despair! I have something I must show you! She walked into a garden in the front of the castle. "The interior is mostly complete! You must see this!" She walked quickly across the garden, with Meghan following her.

They entered the castle, which was empty. After turning some hallways, Zelda got to one hallway, which seemed specially decorated, unlike most of the castle, which was not finished.

"You see, we had to finish this part first, because some people need a place to live!"

"Like yourself?"

"Yes, of course." She continued walking down the hall. "This is where I live," she said, nodding towards the end of the hall, at a large double-door, engraved with symbols and of course, the Triforce. There was another hallway off the side of this one. "And this…" she said, gesturing towards a door that had the same basic structure of her door, but a bit less majestic. She opened one of the doors, and revealed a sitting room.

It had a small couch, a few chairs, and other things you would find in such a room. It looked beautiful, sophisticated.

"Meghan, I would like to ask you something."

"What is it, Zelda?"

"Would you like to live here, in the castle?"

She was shocked for a second. "Zelda!" she said quietly. "I—"

"I know, I know. It does seem a bit…different, but you need your own home, and Saria may one day need hers back. Not that she minds that you stay there, as I assure you she does not."

"Zelda, I don't know if I could. I mean, thank you, but…live in a castle? I'm really not fit for such a thing. And I don't have much money, so I can't pay for rent or anything. It would probably be so expensive…" She couldn't imagine!

"Of course you are fit to live here! And I'd love to have you here! And don't even worry, you won't have to pay a rupee. I will pay personally."

What? Why would Zelda want her to be here? "I…" and then she thought…about Link…how would he react? "Zelda, thank you…thank you so much…I just…" but then she realized that she couldn't stay in Saria's house, especially with an offer like this. What would Saria think?

"I have not told anybody except for you, yet. I just told the designers to make this room special. So do not feel obligated, of course." She did hope very much, though, that Meghan would accept the offer. And soon. Zelda was not sure what would happen in four days, but she wanted her last days to be very comfortable.

"Zelda…thank you." She didn't want to hurt Zelda…but what in the world was she supposed to do?

"You can take as long as you want to decide."

What was she supposed to do?

What, what, what?

"There is more to this visit, my dear. Please, do come with me." She walked out of the room, the one that could be Meghan's. Meghan looked at the room for a second, then followed her. She followed her down some hallways, some finished and some not, until they got to a door. Zelda opened it slowly. Inside were a few ladies, sewing and chatting.

"Princess!" an older lady said, standing up.

"Forgive me for coming in so suddenly, ladies, but here is the girl."

"Oh! There she is! It is an honor to meet you, Meghan!" a second lady said, putting her sewing down.

"Hi, nice to meet you, Zelda, what have you been telling people?"

"That you helped save our country, of course! Our hero's helper from another land."

"But Zelda! You know that I did practically nothing! I just-"

"None of that matters! What counts is you did help and that in itself deserves recognition," said a lady. _Man Hylians are thick!_ _Why can't they just see the truth that I didn't do anything…except almost die!_

"Well, thank you, but..." she faded away. They wouldn't listen anyway.

"Meghan, I brought you here so you could get new clothes. It's been a while."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, not arguing. Her clothes were over-worn, though she didn't like how Zelda was just doing these things for her. And if she offered to pay, they probably wouldn't listen anyway...

"I presume that you would like some pants…and some shirts…and you need at least one skirt…" she thought. "Yes. Which colors would you like?"

She was about to say black, but what Zelda say to that? Maybe it was time for change. Maybe…maybe change could be good.

"I like...red, white...blue, yellow...any color, really, I don't mind anything." _Wow, that was unexpected._ Right now she really didn't care what color she wore…and that surprised herself. Maybe she was inspired by that garden with of beautiful, colorful flowers…

"All right, I shall arrange that. Wonderful!" Zelda said. "Ladies, please measure her!" _Oh god not again!_ Having had to endure the Gerudos (Although she was barely conscious of it at the time) dress her up, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to pay any attention to her body like this again…

The group of ladies, mostly middle-aged and tired looking, came over to her, pulled her to the middle of the room and pulled out measuring devices, measuring every square inch of her scarred body. She put her hands over her stomach, where her mostly healed wound was, but her hands were pushed away as a lady measured her waist. She told the measurements to a girl writing them all down. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious. _Oh god, make them stop…_she thought as they measured every single part of her body…she felt so self-conscious.

Finally when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, they backed away and put their measuring tape things away. Meghan's face must have seemed funny to Zelda, because she laughed and said, "Come along, Meghan. There is more I wish for you to see!"

* * *

After closing the deal with Malon, Link decided that this would be perfect. Except…

Would she still be here?

Goddesses, he hoped so.

* * *

Zelda led Meghan back to her own room. When Zelda opened the large, picturesque door, Meghan saw the room inside was built for a queen. The area was large, and like the one Zelda offered to her it had a large sitting room when you first walked in. The room was a brilliant golden color, very likely meant to match the Triforce. Red satin couches and chairs were arranged in the middle, and near the back was a sort of desk. Zelda walked to the desk and took out a golden key. "Come this way," she directed.

She led Meghan to a door near the desk. Upon entry into whatever room lay behind, it was dark, but Zelda lit a torch on the wall with a suppressed form of Din's Fire. She led Meghan down a hallway to a dark double-door, and used the key to open it.

Inside she found some sort of shrine dedicated to the goddesses. A Triforce was engraved in the wall behind the shrine and it glowed a bright gold, lighting the small room magnificently. The only things in the room were simple golden statues, most likely of the goddesses. Although the decor was limited, the room had a special simplistic beauty to it.

Zelda walked to the back of the room, where the Triforce was. As she walked closer, it seemed to glow even more, responding to Zelda's own, real Triforce.

Finally, when she was right next to it, she put the back of her left hand on it. The wall started rumbling, and slowly it opened, revealing some sort of chamber, growing more secretive. This room glowed too, but Meghan couldn't tell what from. She didn't enter right away, instead waiting for Zelda's signal to continue forward.

Inside, there was a small box on an engraved podium. The box was gold and blue, reminding Meghan of the Master Sword's sheath. Zelda opened the box slowly and took out its contents. She had her back to Meghan, holding whatever it was to herself.

"Meghan, I want to give this back to Link," she said finally, her voice echoing in the silence.

"What is it?" Meghan said, straining to see. Zelda turned and removed her hand from on top of it.

"The Ocarina of Time."

"Oh." Meghan said, for a lack of a better thing to say. Her first thought was to wonder why Zelda was telling _her_ this and not Link.

"You're probably wondering why," she said quietly, pulling the relic closer to herself again, cherishing it.

"I guess."

"Well," she started, looking to the floor and then to Meghan, "I think that he really deserves it. I really have not much need for it. The only reason I took it back…was so I could return him to his rightful time. Link still needs to put the Master Sword back, so Ganon doesn't escape, and he will most likely go back that way. The only thing is, I really have no control over that. If he does, well I don't know, but…I think he should at least take it while we are here. I trust Link to take perfect care of it, to keep it safe. He is, in a way, its rightful owner."

"Wow..." Meghan didn't really know what to say, but she nodded in agreement.

"Yes...a lot of things are uncertain in these times. But," she extended her hand to Meghan, "can you give it to him, for me?"

"Yeah, sure, but why me? We'll probably see him later..."

"Although it may not seem like it, every time I see Link it hurts me deeply." She pulled the ocarina back towards herself again. "I feel wholly as though he is my brother, I can't stand to see him hurt, emotionally, physically, or anything. It hurts me as well. And when I see him, his sadness just takes over my being. I feel that he is very confused and sad, and if I give it back to him, he will be even more so. And there is also the chance that he will refuse to take it back, because he is most noble like that, but I cannot allow that. I cannot keep it. I just can't. Please, you must do this for me."

"OK, I will." Meghan took it from Zelda, remembering what it was like. She had held it sometimes, and through the battle with Ganondorf, but today it felt different. Like it was holding Zelda's sadness. But it still confused Meghan why, if she worried about Link so much, Zelda would not take joy in seeing Link. Maybe there was something deeper than just their friendship, maybe Zelda didn't wish to see him for another reason. The idea sent a weird chill through Meghan. Or maybe she was imagining things?

Meghan carefully put the ocarina in her backpack, and zipped it closed carefully.

"Thank you so much. Even if it's only for a little while."

There was a pause. "Zelda, what do you think will truly happen when Link puts the sword back in?"

"Well, I can't be certain. And I want you to realize anything I say could happen, or may not happen. I don't want you to get your hopes up, or down, when I say this."

Meghan nodded.

"Most likely, since the Master Sword is the passage through time for Link, he will return to his child form. He may or may not remember these events, but most likely will. It is you, however, that I am unsure of. Because you were not here, you may return to your old world. Or you may remain here, and just be younger. But there is so much possibility of what may happen, depending which way you look like it. I do not believe that you will return to your old world, because it was through the gods that you came here. They would have to bring you back, and I doubt that replacing the Master Sword would have enough power to.

"But, since you were not here seven years ago, it would be strange if you became a child again. You may end up in the Sacred Realm. We will certainly try to find you if that is true. And you do realize that we have to put the sword back, right?"

"Of course. I don't care. I mean, I don't really…it doesn't affect me. Well it does…but…I realize that it is important." Actually, the idea of dying was the prominent thought in her mind, but she couldn't let anyone know how scared she was.

"For that I am glad. I would not want to put you through this if you didn't know why we had to. I'm sorry." She looked at the floor. "But for now, we must forget it. Enjoy what we are certain of for now. Oh, I'm sure Link is waiting by now. Let us go." Zelda stepped past Meghan. She walked to the door. After a few seconds, Meghan followed her. Zelda locked the door and returned to her room. With Meghan still following, they left the room and turned some halls. Finally, they got to an exit. They walked in silence side by side until they reached the outside of the castle. They walked into the town a little bit.

"Now Meghan, I must return to the castle. I will see you again very soon. Will you be all right if I leave you here?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll see you soon. Bye." She smiled, though she really didn't feel like it.

"Good bye, Meghan." Zelda gave her a quick hug and turned. Meghan turned and walked the rest of the way out of the town.

Once in the field, Meghan looked around. She hoped Link wasn't there, for once in a very long time, she wanted to be alone. And she hoped Link didn't have Epona with him. OK, so she didn't want to be completely alone, but at the moment Epona seemed to be a good choice of company…

She took the Ocarina of Time from her backpack. Being very careful, she played Epona's song. She was relieved to see that Epona was by herself. She trotted over to her, snorting as she came to a stop.

"Hello, do you mind if I ride you?" Epona gave a small sound. "Was that a yes or a no?" Epona made a larger noise of the same kind. "OK, I'll take that as a yes." She made her way to the side of Epona, and used the stirrups to hoist herself atop the mare. "Epona, can you…go somewhere? I don't care where, just away from people," she asked hesitantly, not knowing if Epona would understand. But with a shrill whinny, Epona took off. She went to the part of the field where the empty forest was.

Epona went right into it, down a path that seemed to have been made by her hooves, and only hers. Epona was going pretty quickly, and Meghan had to duck out of the way of branches a few times, just avoiding getting her eye poked out. She escaped with just a scratch on her forehead.

Epona kept going until they reached a cave. Meghan got off, thinking that Epona might be afraid of going in it and was going to go in by herself. Something about the cave seemed interesting. But she was surprised, when she got off, Epona went forward again into the cave. She kept going into the darkness.

"Epona, come back!" Meghan yelled after her, and followed. Just before she entered, though, she realized that this cave wasn't very long. Where did Epona go, then?

Meghan ran through the almost total darkness, following the sound of Epona's footsteps. She heard her slowing, so she did too.

Meghan saw light before her, and soon the cave opened up. She saw Epona drinking from a fountain. But this was no ordinary fountain.

It looked like a Great Fairy fountain, but the torches with the colored flames were not there. What made it unique, though, were the three unicorn head statues facing different directions in the middle of the fountain. Epona lifted her head, lips dripping, from the sparkly water and nickered a hello to Meghan.

"Hi silly, I just saw you. What is this place?" she walked to Epona and rubbed her neck. Epona tossed her head towards the stone unicorn heads. "Heads?" Epona tossed her head side to side then towards the heads again. "Unicorns?" Epona made a small noise. "What do they have to do with anything?" Epona walked back over to the fountain and began to drink again. "You're confusing me again. I need Link to translate."

Epona continued to lap up the water. Then she stopped. Meghan walked over to the fountain and sat on the top step. She looked into the clear, crisp, clean water sparkling in the lights. She put her hand in the water. It was cool, and looked good enough to drink. She cupped some in her hand smelled it. Smelled like water. What did she expect? Epona came over, seeing something in her hand and nudged it. The water spilled on Meghan's lap.

"Epona! You silly horse. Oh, well." She brushed herself off and stood. "This place is cool. Does anybody else know about it?" Epona tossed her head. "Are you sure?" Epona didn't do anything. "Come on," Epona just looked at her, standing slightly to her side. "Can we keep it a secret?" Epona brought her head up and down and turned in a circle.

"You must be the smartest horse ever. So it's a secret?" Epona made her little noise again. "Good. Do you like to be rubbed?" Without waiting for an answer, Meghan moved her fingers to Epona's neck and moved them around in little circles. Epona's lip twitched and soon she rested her head on Meghan's shoulders. Meghan told Epona of her problems softly.

* * *

It was a strange moment, sitting in their favorite spot on the field, when he realized the things he had to do. The things everything in him refused to do, but at the same time knew he had to do.

While he felt his attachment growing to her, he knew somewhere within himself it was no good. If this ended up the way it could, the devastating end that some thought it would be, then both of them would end up messed up. If she were to leave, how would he know where she'd gone? He might never be able to contact her again. He would miss talking to her, miss the connection. He would miss her quirkiness.

And she, although he had no idea what she was truly thinking, would no doubt be hurt as well. He knew, at least, they were great friends. But being who he was, _what_ he was, this was _his_ responsibility. This would be his last act as hero. He would save the rest of her life from the sorrow of the loss of a friend. He couldn't let their attachment grow any bit further in their time left.

As he stared into the setting sky, his heart fell.

Oh, the life of a hero.

* * *

"Zelda wants me to stay at the castle. But I don't know what to do. I can't, but I can't turn her down, and I can't continue living at Saria's house when I've had this offer. And also, I don't want to be so far from Link. Every morning I would have to go all the way across the field just to see him. And that in itself takes a while. Just think…I couldn't wake him up…but then what happens if I have to go back? Then it wouldn't really matter. I would only be in the castle for like one day. Maybe I'll tell Zelda to wait until after…you know. But then what if I turn into a kid? That'd be really strange. Would I remember? Would anybody remember? Hey, maybe everybody would remember. But I'm still terrified of what else could happen on Saturday...what if I can't go back anywhere, what if I die? Epona, I just feel so hurt sometimes...I wonder if Zelda really cares what happens to me. No, that's silly. I know she does, but she knows she needs to protect her country...and unfortunately my fate is something she thinks can be risked." Epona's eyes closed. "Oh, you're not listening." Epona gave a snort of protest while still leaning on Meghan. "You're so cute," she whispered in her ear, still moving her fingers in circles over Epona's neck. "What am I ever gonna do?" Epona removed herself and looked at Meghan with her huge eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Epona stepped backwards. "What?" Epona moved herself parallel to Meghan. Meghan stared for a second. "What are you doing?" Epona sidestepped into Meghan. "Hey!" Meghan stepped back. Epona did it again. "You confuse me." she looked for a few more seconds. "Do…you want me to ride you?" Epona stepped towards her again. "I'll take that as a yes." She pulled herself into the saddle, and as soon as she was on, Epona took off back out through the cave. Meghan had to duck down to avoid hitting her head. Once they were outside, Epona kept going through the woods the way they had come. It must have been much later, the sun was almost down.

"Now what were you telling me?" Epona went faster. Meghan grabbed the reins tightly. "Epona!" She kept going. Before long, she realized what she was trying to do. Well, maybe. Then, miraculously, she saw Link over the hill, straight ahead. "Epona, do you want me to tell him?" she asked into the mare's ear. She slowed down, getting closer to Link. "Really?" She stopped. Link walked over. "OK…Hi!" she spoke to Link.

"You've been with Zelda this whole time?" he asked, smiling.

"I don't even get a hi?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, hi! Where have you been? I just called Epona so I could look for you."

"With Zelda," Meghan lied, quite convincingly.

"You could have just answered that in the first place." Meghan gave him an odd look and got down from Epona.

"Are you OK?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," he replied. "Why?"

"You seem upset."

He shook his head. "Just worried. You don't look very happy yourself."

"Worried about what?" She didn't know why he would be worried about her…especially since she was supposed to have been with Zelda.

"Nothing," he said dismissively, turning to pat Epona.

"If you tell me what you're worried about, I'll tell you what I'm worried about." She smiled. Silence. "Link…"

"What?" he asked suddenly, as though he hadn't been paying attention.

"God, never mind." She felt frustrated. The sun was completely down now, and just a bit of light lit the field up ever so slightly. "Are you even awake?"

"I think so," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"What is _up_?" she asked again, trying to figure out his weird mood.

"I don't know. Nothing."

She sighed heavily. They stood by Epona for a while, almost awkwardly.

"Do you realize the sun went down?" she finally asked. There was bit of silence.

"So what did Zelda tell you?" he asked. Meghan knew something was wrong.

"Uh," she said "Nothing really. I just…well…Link, what's the matter? Just _tell_ me."

"Nothing. Why do you keep asking?" he said, not looking up from where he was rubbing Epona.

"You don't seem to be paying attention to anything. Come on, tell me."

"I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Things I think about," he said, turning his head slightly toward her. They couldn't tell each other what was on their minds… "But. Really, go on."

"It's dark outside. Shouldn't we go back?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you gonna sleep tonight again?" She was joking.

He finally looked at her. "Why do you ask such strange questions?"

"Why are you _acting_ so weird?" Why was he not smiling? Why was he not reacting? This was not normal Link.

"How am I acting weird?"

"'Why do I ask strange questions?' It's the same answer for both. This conversation is really going nowhere. Tell me what's wrong."

"Yes, I suppose." He eyed her for a second with his eyes slightly narrowed. She couldn't even imagine what was going on in his head.

"Ugh, come on," she said tiredly, taking Epona and leading her towards the Kokiri Forest. _Should I tell him? No, he's too worried thinking about something else._

_What will happen to her? How can I just live without this? I just can't let anything happen to her...but I cannot avoid this. I have to…push her away. _He continued thinking this way…until…

"Here, Epona. Return to the ranch." Meghan told the horse. _It just occurred to me that Epona seems to like Meghan today. Not that she didn't before, just more._

Meghan also whispered in the horse's ear, "_Remember, don't tell a soul._" Epona whinnied, and then ran off. They walked into the forest. Link walked Meghan to Saria's house.

"Good night," he said, waiting for her to go inside.

"Uh, Link, can you come in for a second? I have to give you something, but I don't want to do it out in the open." She sneaked a glance around. You never know...

"Nobody is here. It's OK, you can give whatever it is to me here." Any other night, he would have jumped at the chance to spend more time with her, but he _couldn't_.

"No, please, it's _really_ important. Like, _Zelda_ important."

"OK, I guess." He followed Meghan inside Saria's house. Meghan took off her backpack and opened it on the table.

"Zelda…Zelda wanted me to give you this." She took the Ocarina of Time out gently and put it in Link's hands.

"Oh, no," he said gravely, then immediately looked up at her and asked, "Why would she do that?"

"She said that you deserve it. She said that it's basically yours. And she said a lot of things, but she basically just really wanted you to have it. And she wanted me to give it to you, for some reason. I don't really understand well." Sometimes Zelda's intentions were clear as day, but sometimes they were extremely convoluted.

"But I can't have this, really, it's too important! I have to give it back. I'll do it first thing tomorrow."

"No! I mean, Zelda seemed really sincere; she really, _really_ wanted you to have it. It would make Zelda happy." Link looked at her for a while, and thought about what he should do. He looked at the familiar instrument in his hands, the one he used throughout his adventure. He did want to keep it, but knew it was better off with Zelda. Still, Meghan wouldn't tell him to keep it if Zelda hadn't really seemed serious about him keeping it. So he decided that he would, at least for now.

"All right, I think."

"Good. And one more thing I need to tell you. I…" she was going to ask him about staying in the castle. But what would his answer be? Most likely something like "do whatever you want, it's your decision" or something else that wouldn't help her much. She stood with her mouth open, then closed it, quickly thinking about something to say.

"I'm sorry about this morning," she said quickly.

He shook his head. He looked straight into her eyes. "Don't fail me," he said in a deep, convincing voice, though it faltered with emotion.

"OK. You too."

"Yes. I won't." He squeezed the ocarina in his hand. After a few seconds, he said "Good night, Meghan."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." He was about to leave. Meghan hesitated for a second, but threw out her uncertainty and skipped over to give him a hug, wrapping her arms all around him. His arms came around her too, gripping her suddenly in a strong embrace. His body felt weak and relaxed all at once, her body held to his, doing confusing things to him. After a second, he rested his cheek against her forehead for just a moment, then let go of her completely.

"Bye." He left. Meghan sighed, feeling quite unfulfilled. She really wanted to go after him. She really wanted to just sit around with him, spend time with him. She couldn't, though. She told herself not to. She got ready to sleep after eating some fruit.

* * *

Link stared at the Ocarina in his hands. Why had Zelda given it to him? There must have been a deeper reason than just he deserved it. After much more staring and thinking, he put the ocarina on the table. He sat back on his bed, picking up the book he'd been reading once again. He began to read, to tear his thoughts from _her_. He had only a few more chapters left.

_She was riding a unicorn..._

* * *

Epona trotted over to the ranch, her familiar first home, yet Epona was lonely. She wished she could go with Link into the forest, but he had once said that she was too big, and the kids in there would not know how to handle her. They would be scared. She missed the days when Link would take care of her at night. She wanted to find Malon, but Malon was probably inside. She gave a big horsey sigh and made her way in the ranch. She was surprised that Malon was still out, just walking back to her house.

"Epona! Oh, there you are! I was just about to go inside! Come on!" she took Epona's reins and led her to the stables. She led her in, and removed the saddle and bridle. She brushed her for a while longer, lovingly, then finally said goodnight. She left Epona's stall door open. She knew she wouldn't go anywhere.

Epona yawned and made herself comfortable to sleep. She wasn't lonely anymore. She loved Malon, especially when she groomed her.

Yup, this was the life.

* * *

**Oh my goddesses, it breaks my heart. That tiny little section about him realizing he shouldn't get any closer to Meghan? **_**Damn**_** boy. His sense of duty is just…far too great. Poor Linky. :(**


	19. Remix: Day Four: Decisions, Decisions

**Day Four**

Immediately forgetting the dream she'd just had, Meghan woke slowly. She didn't want to get up. But if she didn't, she knew Link would come to wake her. Or she thought he would. And it was so fun to wake him up. Maybe today he wouldn't be thinking as much as he was last night and would actually respond to something…

After a few minutes of lying down, Meghan got up and changed. She put her jeans on, with a black shirt. She also put the sword on.

When she was done she skipped out the door. She made her way to Link's house, wondering what time it was. _Ah, well, who cares? He won't mind too much._

She scrambled up the ladder onto the balcony. She carefully tiptoed inside the house. Link was sleeping, leaning against the wall behind his bed, a book upside down in his lap. She snickered to herself. Navi was nowhere in sight, which was odd.

The sword was next to the bed, leaning against the wall. His shield was face down on the floor. She tiptoed over to the bed.

Suddenly, she jumped up on the bed and started jumping up and down, being careful not to step on him.

"Get up get up get up!" she chanted. He woke up abruptly and his hand reached near his shoulder to the sword that wasn't there. As soon as he saw it was her, he leaned his head against the wall again and closed his eyes, breathing out as though annoyed. She continued to jump up and down, his head bouncing with her movements.

"You can stop now," he said, sounding annoyed indeed. She didn't care.

She giggled and jumped one more time, this time falling onto her butt in a cross-legged sitting position.

"Yay! You're up finally. I was jumping for like ten minutes." She really hadn't, though.

"Whatever." He rubbed his face with both hands. He was still dressed in his clothes from yesterday and he looked tired.

"So what are we going to do today?" she asked.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do _you_ wanna do?"

"I don't know." They sat in silence for a second.

"Green mashed potatoes! I just remembered something!"

"What?" he asked, looking up at her inquisitively.

"Mashed potatoes! Mm…I can just taste their mushy goodness…filling me up! Adding weird toppings! My friends and I would always do that to the bad school cafeteria mashed potatoes. Yeah, mashed potatoes were fun. Speaking of which…do you have any?"

"No. Sorry…" He couldn't help but smile. She seemed so happy this morning. Could he really resist…?

"Do you even know what they are?"

"No, I don't."

"Well that's OK. Do you know what mayonnaise is?"

"No..."

"Right. Well, that's one idea gone. Rauru said yesterday, accidentally of course, that each of the sages would visit us on each of the days. So, does that mean that's predetermined, or do we just go and they follow?"

"I don't know."

"I think it's us. Except for Rauru, we kind of chose them all."

"I don't think so. Saria came to us the first day, we went to Nabooru, and then Rauru came."

"Yeah." Meghan looked down and played around with the sheets on the bed for a few seconds while they sat in silence. She didn't realize that he was staring at her. "Where did you get this?" he asked, almost angrily, putting his thumb near the cut on her forehead. It was the one she got when riding Epona through those woods yesterday. She pushed his hand away.

"Nowhere."

"You got it somewhere."

"Nope. It's all in your mind."

"Why won't you tell me?" he asked a bit too loudly.

"I didn't get anything. I told you it's in your mind." She was smiling.

"I just wanted to know."

"It's not important. What is important is that you seem to be imagining things. Do we need to recommend you to a doctor?"

"No. It was a simple question that you are too stubborn to answer." He was so frustrated that he turned his head away, unable to look at her. How could he just…leave her alone? This girl was far to clumsy and stubborn for her own good. She would accidentally kill herself…

"I would answer it but since it will make no difference for the future what happened, it's not necessary."

"It is _quite_ necessary," he said deliberately, "because if something _did_ that to you, I need to know."

"Nothing did it…"

"For all I know, a monster could have attacked you." Meghan got off the bed. "That would certainly affect our future," he kept talking as she left.

"Yeah, well that's not what happened," she said, realizing now why he wanted to know.

"Then what did happen?"

"Nothing, it's _really_ not important." She turned back to look at him.

"Yes it _is_." He sat at the edge of his bed.

"Why do you care so much? I told you that it wasn't a monster. That should be enough!"

"Why is it so hard just to say it?"

She glared at him. "I ran into a tree and scratched myself. Happy? You didn't need to make such a big deal of it. It's _embarrassing_." She crossed her arms and looked away from him.

"Yes, well how was I supposed to know that?"

"Link, what is wrong with you lately?" she said, her voice raised

"I would answer but it has nothing to do with the future," he said mockingly. _Even though it does._ He was getting sick of this arguing. He couldn't do this. Not with anyone, but especially not with her.

She was mad. She didn't know what to say. That was so immature of him to say! "You're so mean...stupid!"

"Hey!" he stood up. "I am not."

"Yes you are! You're so mean and stupid and I can't _stand_ you." She felt pretty angry with him. She just wanted him to make her feel better. And he wanted her to feel better.

He stood there for a second, just staring. He took a deep breath. _I shouldn't push her further away. I can't. I merely need to not get any closer. Otherwise, we're worse off._ He calmed himself down.

"Mashed potatoes...how do we do that?"

She just looked at him for a second, but then she smiled. Then she broke out in laughter, putting her head in her hands as she sat on his bed.

Just watching her laugh, he knew how stupid he'd been. He knew everything he'd thought of yesterday was complete bullshit. What _was_ wrong with him? He didn't even know. But he knew every moment he could spend with her, see her happy, make her happy, was definitely worth it. He would rather have ten minutes of fun and happiness with her than a month of sullen, boring time. Actually, he would take both if it meant being with her.

"Where is Navi this morning?" Meghan asked, realizing the fairy hadn't witnessed their fight.

"She wanted to go visit some of her old friends. Forest fairies, as she once was. She is no longer bound to me, so I feel that she wants to venture out more lately. But she should be back later."

"Oh, OK."

"Where do you want to go today?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Nowhere." She bounced on the bed, smiling.

"No, seriously," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder so she would stop. She did. "Where?"

"Hey! Your bed is extremely bouncy. Don't stop me! Also…why do you always ask me? You say for once." She began to bounce again.

"Because I don't care where we go."

"And neither do I, really."

"Fine. I feel like…"

"...Yes?"

"I feel like..."

"Yah?"

"I feel like…like feeling fire," he said, strangely thoughtfully.

She didn't notice his double meaning. "Pyromania! Oh yeah!" She stood up, punching the air in an upward motion.

"Pyromania?"

"Uh…never mind. How about setting something on fire?"

"Like what?" He smiled, thinking of the figurative answer he might have given to his own question. But he quickly pushed his thoughts away.

"I don't know…but the Gorons will...that's it! We will see Darunia today! Awesome! Only I'm scared."

"Why?"

"I don't want a Goron hug…"

O_O

Dun dun dun…

"Well, neither do I."

They both laughed at the joke. They walked out of Link's house, onto the balcony. Meghan went down a few rungs then jumped the rest of the way down. She turned around and tried to start walking, but tripped over her own feet and fell onto the grass.

"Ouch! Stinky…" she laughed from embarrassment, standing up quickly and wiping the dirt from her palms.

"Are you OK?" he asked, jumping down all the way (and not hurting himself). He went to her quickly.

"Oh yeah, yeah, fine," she said, waving her hand at him. "Just a moment of clumsiness, like the ones that overcome me like every second." She smiled. He looked at her worriedly, but just sighed.

"Hey! I just remembered…"

"What?"

"I didn't bring my sword!"

Meghan looked at him in disbelief. "You…didn't?"

"I know…strange, isn't it?" he laughed, imagining the strangeness that he'd been paying so much attention to her that he forgot the very thing that was core purpose of his being...he was supposed to be a _hero_.

"You…"

"Yeah, I'll go get it." He turned around.

"You…"

"Meghan?"

"Now that you're unarmed, I can attack you!" she ran and tackled him. He pretended to have been tackled and fell back onto the floor.

"Hey!" he said as he fell to the ground. Meghan stood next to him, glaring down into his face. Lying on his back, he looked up at her, grinning.

"No, seriously…" he said, trying to get up. She put her foot on him, lightly so she wouldn't get him dirty.

"I am the ruler of this world!"

"You'll scare the Kokiris by doing that, Meg!" he laughed and laid his head back on the ground.

"What did you call me?" she asked menacingly.

"Meg…han." He added the last part quickly, winking and grinning sheepishly. "I'm sorry." She removed her foot and he sat up. "What's wrong with calling you that? You have nicknames for me."

"I was just kidding," she said, smiling. He stared at her. "Come on, I'm sorry. Here," She held out her hand to him. She thought for a second. "I like that nickname. I do. You can call me that if you want."

"Thank you," he said, taking her hand. She pulled him up as best she could. "It looks like I can't ever go five minutes without being attacked."

"That's right. The Ruler of the World attacked you and won."

"Yeah, I'll be right back." He quickly climbed the ladder and walked in his house. Meghan heard a metallic sound, then silence.

Link came a few seconds later with the sword, sans the shield.

"Ready?"

"Yup!" They walked in silence for a few minutes. After about five minutes, Meghan said, "So…"

"Yeah?"

"You know how you said things I say are weird? Have you ever thought that maybe my questions aren't weird, but yours are? Maybe you are just the weird one, and since you've been asking yourself all your own questions, mine seem weird. It's like that one guy said…what was his name? I forgot. He said 'I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call people weird that are weird.' Oh yeah! It was Paul McCartney."

Link thought for a second. "No, I didn't think about that. And who is Paul McCartney?"

"He was a musician. A singer, song writer…I think."

"That makes me think I must be very weird."

"Yeah, but so am I."

"People say interesting things, where you come from."

"Yeah, I'm full of quotes. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said 'It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.' And William Faulkner said 'I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail…because he has a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.'"

"I like that one. Who is William Faulkner?"

"I think a writer."

"Ah."

"I have one that you would like even better. I don't remember who it's said by. 'The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience." She didn't remember that this was a quote by Leo Tolstoi.

"Yeah, I like that one."

"It so suites you. A warrior, and Time, and you are so patient." She laughed. Most of the time he was. "Why am I just remembering all of these?"

"How do you know them?"

"Uh, I saw them places...they stuck in my mind."

"Normally things that long don't stick in my mind." He laughed, pointing to his own head.

"Yeah, mine either. School, I guess." She thought for a second. "I feel like running. I am an odd little…thing."

"OK, go run." He gestured forward.

"Okies, see you in Kakariko!" She walked a few quick steps, then turned around. "On the other hand, I'll race you!"

"Now why would you do that? You know I'll win." He grinned mischievously.

"No, this time no."

"OK. Let's race."

"Hey, do you have the ocarina with you?"

"Which one?" he said, taking two ocarinas from his pockets. She laughed.

"Hmm…" she said, and then pointed at the Fairy Ocarina. "That one. Can I borrow it?"

"Sure. May I ask why?"

"You'll see. Ready?"

"Yup," he said, getting ready to run.

"Set?"

"OK..."

"GO!"

They started running. They had yet a while to go until Kakariko, from the Kokiri forest. This was where Meghan's plan would come in handy. Luckily he was so nice; otherwise he might not have let her borrow the ocarina without a reason.

When they had been running for a few seconds, and they were about tied, Meghan pulled out the ocarina. She played Epona's Song, although it was very hard to do while running. She played it slowly, because she need to take a breath between each note.

"What are you doing?" Link asked, stopping.

"Cheating!" she said back, still running. Soon she heard Epona's hooves on the ground, and she turned towards where Lon Lon Ranch was and saw Epona running towards her. The only problem was she didn't have a saddle on. "Oh great."

Epona ran to her. Meghan's plan was going to fail, unless she found some way to ride bareback. She stopped.

Link took advantage of this momentary hesitation. He ran ahead of her.

"Hey!" she yelled, trying to figure out how to ride Epona. If she could just get on…

"HA HA HA HA…" he said. "That's what you get for cheating!" She had to find out how to get on…

Meghan put her hands around Epona's neck, but knew that wasn't going to work. She only would allow herself a little more time, and then she would have to go without Epona. She would lose, though. "Why is your saddle not on?" she whined. She knew the wall wasn't too far away. Could she risk the time getting there? If she successfully got on Epona, she wouldn't have to worry about that, but what if she didn't?

"Oh well. Come on, Epona." She said, clicking her tongue. "I need you." She ran to the wall, which was a good distance away. Epona trotted over to her new location. She led Epona as close to the wall as possible, put the ocarina in her backpack, then got on her. She entangled her fingers in her mane, and gave her a squeeze to get her going. Meghan felt like she was going to fall off, even though she wasn't. Epona wasn't going fast enough. She squeezed more and gave her a pat on the rear, and that got her going.

"Sorry," she said, still squeezing. Epona started catching up to Link, who was still far away. "Come on, come on, come on…" She whispered to Epona, who was going pretty fast. Meghan held onto Epona's mane as best as possible. She felt herself sliding off. She tried to grab around her neck, but was scared to let go. "You don't even have a halter on!" she said. She was riding full out bareback. That was a very scary experience. Still, she was catching up to Link.

Soon, when they were nearing the bridge that crossed over the water to Kakariko, Meghan wasn't far away. She could catch up if Epona went a bit faster…

"Yah!" she said to Epona, who turned her gallop into a faster gallop. She wanted her to go faster. "Come on, you can do it. I know you can," she said to Epona. Link looked back at her, and picked up his pace.

"It's not so easy, is it?" he yelled, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

But soon enough, she passed him and galloped over the bridge, Epona's hooves clacking loudly on the wood. It was then when Meghan realized…

"Oh my goddesses! How do I stop her?" she realized she was squeezing Epona hard, and so loosened that, and pulled back on Epona's mane. She whinnied and stopped of her own accord. Meghan straightened herself, sitting up tall on Epona, and smiled down at Link. "I am still the Ruler of the World."

"And I am a puppy," he said. He almost seemed angry. She pushed back her hair.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked from atop Epona as he slowly walked toward her.

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, but I just find this really ironic. Before you told me that the greatest warriors were time and patience, yet you continue to feel that you had to cheat to win this race."

"Oh," Meghan said. She just realized that. But then she said. "But Link, would you have said that if you had won this race? I mean, would it have mattered if I cheated or not if you had won?"

"Meghan, it would not matter. And it doesn't matter to me now, that you've won. I'm just saying it's…it's somewhat hypocritical." He laughed again.

"OK. I'm sorry. I realize what I did."

"I guess I am jealous."

"Oh stop," she said, smiling. "I cheated. You shouldn't be." She swung one leg over Epona, and sat sidesaddle on her. She was about to jump down, but realized it wasn't the best way for her or Epona to dismount. Link saw her situation and walked over, holding out his hand so she could take it and he could help her down. She grabbed it and he effortlessly got her down.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." They walked to the entrance to Kakariko Village. "That was pretty remarkable. You rode Epona without a saddle or anything. I've been riding her for a while and I still don't think I could do that."

"Well, I didn't think I could too. But Epona is really smart…I sorta knew I could trust her. I think." They were just coming into Kakariko. "Maybe another time we can hang around here."

"Hang?" he asked, unfamiliar with the term in that context.

"Have I not said that before?"

"Where would we be hanging from?"

She laughed hard, it was so silly to her to realize that he had no idea what the expression meant. Had she really not used it the whole time she'd been here?

"It means to...gosh, I don't even know how to explain it. Hang out! To do things together with people for fun, I guess? In a place?"

"Oh. OK, I understand. Did you hear something strange, just a moment ago?" She stopped and listened.

"No…"

"Oh, I can hear it."

"What does it sound like?" They were standing at the entrance to Death Mountain.

"It sounds like something falling. Like rocks or something…"

Meghan listened hard.

"Curse my short little ears. I don't hear it. No! Wait!" she heard a rolling sound, then a sound like something got knocked down. "It sounds like the volcano began to erupt."

"Yes, it does, but I don't think it is going to."

"Then what do you suppose it is?"

"I have no idea. Let's check it out." He continued forward. They walked up the mountain, until they got where the path split in two spots, to the rough mountain climbing up the mountain, which led to the Fire Temple and Great Fairy, and to Goron City. The sound was even louder now. It sounded like a Goron rolling towards them, but none came. Then came a sound that made Meghan jump. It sounded like something got knocked down.

"What the heck is it?" she said.

"I have no idea." They walked forward again. They walked towards Goron City. Then they saw something that caused them to stand with their mouths open for a few minutes.

The Gorons were all standing in a blob. Darunia and Link (Goron Link) were in the middle. Darunia rolled himself up in a ball and rolled towards big rocks that looked like pins.

"They're bowling." Meghan said in shock.

"Yeah…" Link muttered in disbelief, watching Darunia roll. He impacted. All of the pins except one on the side fell down. He ricocheted off the little platform, where the pins were set up in front of. As he uncurled himself and looked at how he had done, the crowd cheered. It was a weird sort of deep Goron cheer, but they could tell it was a cheer. It was then when Darunia saw them. Goron Link followed his gaze.

"Link!" Goron Link yelled. He ran through the crowd to Link. He had grown, and looked a little stronger.

"Hi, Link!" Link said. This was odd to Meghan, him calling his own name. "You've grown strong, I see."

"Yeah! I'm going to be just like my father!" he said, smiling a Goron smile. A random Goron came up to Meghan.

"Hi! I remember you! You're the human!"

"Uh…"

"Remember me?"

"Yes..." she said, feeling bad, but all the Gorons looked the same to her...

"I remember you. You're the girl from a different dimension!"

"Oh…yeah, that's me."

"I never asked you my question!"

"Oh! You're that Goron I met when I first came here."

"Yup, Gordley is my name."

"Gordley?"

"Yes. Can I ask my question now?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I was wondering if you would listen to my joke. No one else will listen to me."

"NO! DON'T DO IT!" The crowd said simultaneously.

"Why not?" she asked, wanting to give him a fair chance. "Go ahead!"

"No!" they shouted.

"Yes! Someone will finally listen to me! I'm so glad I could hug you!"

"Ah! No! No hugs, just jokes, OK?" She smiled and took a step back, holding her hands up.

"No, you look like you need a hug."

"No!" He advanced on her. "Please, I'm fine. I don't need a hug…" He was closer. "Link! Help me!" she ran behind Link. He laughed. Gordley looked disappointed. "Just a joke!" she said, from behind Link.

"Oh, all right."

"No!" the crowd said again. Gordley took a deep breath, and seemed nervous.

"All…all right. All right, I can do this." He seemed _really_ nervous. All the Gorons looked on, obviously not wanting to listen, but knew they had to.

"It's OK, just tell me." Meghan coaxed, stepping a bit out from behind Link. "Just take a deep breath, and tell me."

"All right. Why…why did, did, did, did, did…the…Goron…need a bath?"

"Um…" Meghan said. Link seemed to be thinking.

"Because…because he…rolled around in the mud! Haha!" Gordley laughed, maybe a bit too hard, at his own joke. Meghan did too. Not because it was funny, but because it was so stupid it was funny.

"That was good!" she said, not minding the ridiculous fail joke. "Do you have any others?"

"No!" the group yelled.

"Yes, I do!" He seemed more confident now.

"OK, let's hear it." She ignored the moans of the crowd.

"All right. This is my favorite. Why did the Zora need water?"

"Uh…I don't know."

"Because he was a Zora! Bwahahaha!" he laughed. Meghan laughed too. That was so stupid wasn't even funny. But she laughed anyway. Link smiled. He didn't find it funny either.

"Any others?" Meghan asked. Goron Link gave her looks that said "no," but she asked anyway. Just as Gordley opened his mouth to speak, a larger Goron came over.

"Uh, Gordley, son, I think it's your turn."

"Oh boy! Can I use a bomb?"

"That's not part of the—oh, sure!" He produced a bomb from somewhere, then mumbled when turned around, "If it'll keep him from telling more jokes..." Gordley took the bomb, then rolled up in a ball around it. He rolled down to where the pins were re-setup. He hit the pins with an explosion, shaking the ground so Meghan stumbled a bit.

"Wow! Best so far!" Darunia said. All the pins were knocked down.

"Hurray!" Gordley said. Darunia took this chance to walk to Link, Goron Link, and Meghan.

"Father, father, he is here!" Goron Link said excitedly. Darunia walked to Link.

"It's good to see you again, Brother." He moved to Link as though he was going to hug him. Link backed up.

"Yes. It is good to see you again, too," Link said firmly and whole heartedly. Darunia stopped advancing, instead just placed his heavy hand on Link's shoulder.

"I'm happy you could come and visit us. I am sorry; we were in a game of Goron Bowling. Would you like to join us? We have refreshments." He gestured to a pile of rocks.

"Uh, sure. We just can't bowl the way you can."

"That's all right! You can use a rock!" he pointed to a spherical boulder against a wall on the mountain. Meghan tried not to laugh. Link smiled and nervously laughed.

"O…K…" he said.

"Would you like to take a turn now?"

"Well…"

"Or you can eat something."

"No, no. We'll have a go, unless it's someone else's turn."

"You can go!"

"Yeah, the Hero of Time has to go!"

"Yeah!" said a bunch of Gorons randomly. They all nodded their heads.

"Well…" Link said.

"Come on, Link! You can do it!" Goron Link said.

"OK." He stood still for a second, unsure.

"I'll move the rock to the correct position." Darunia went over to the huge boulder and rolled it to a line on the rock floor. Link hesitated for a second, then walked over to the rock. Meghan wasn't sure if he could move it, but she remembered his gauntlets. He had put them back on this morning after he went back to get his sword in his house. She was sure that without those Gold Gauntlets, he wouldn't have had a chance at moving this rock.

"Go Link!" she yelled. He stared at the rock…erm…boulder for a few seconds, before pushing it hard. It rolled sort of to the side, knocking all but three adjacent pins down. He stared at what he did for a few seconds. A Goron was already rolling the boulder back to where he was standing.

"Go again!"

"Again?" he asked. He seemed quite disappointed. He pushed the boulder again without even looking. Surprisingly enough, he hit all three pins. "Navi!" he said loudly, in surprise, and sure enough the zippy little fairy buzzed back to where he and Meghan were standing.

"Hi!" she cried, circling around Link, then around Meghan.

"Navi! Hi!" Meghan said.

"Hello Navi, but I didn't want to hit those…"

Meghan realized that Navi had helped him target, at the last second.

"Link, don't get so upset. It's OK to win!" she said, flying into Meghan's face and winking at her.

"But I didn't want to!" he pouted. "Because now all the Gorons will come and—"

"YAY Link!" They all surrounded him, arms spread apart. They slowly closed in on him.

"Oh." Navi said flatly. Meghan looked on in horror…there must have been thirty Gorons there! What was he going to do? She couldn't help him, she was pushed outside of their ring. She had to stop them…she could just see Link in between them, barely.

"Brother Darunia!" she yelled. She had to think of something fast. "Saria is here!"

"What?" he turned and looked at her. That didn't stop the other Gorons.

"Look! A big, sirloin rock! Over there! It's big enough for Biggoron to eat!" All the Gorons looked at her. "Quick! It just went that way!" She pointed down the mountain. They all walked towards where she pointed. All except Goron Link and Darunia.

"Where is Saria? I didn't see her."

"Oh, I saw a bit of green something…it must have been my imagination. I could have sworn I saw some green hair, though. Sorry!"

"Oh." Darunia looked down. Link walked next to Meghan and whispered to her,

"Thanks." She nodded.

"That was good roll, Link!" Goron Link told him.

"Thank you."

A few seconds later, the horde of Gorons came waddling back. "We did not see it," Gordley said. But Meghan didn't know it was Gordley. They all looked slightly the same to her…

"It must have...gotten away..." she said quietly. She really didn't like to lie to them. They were such nice creatures. They just didn't know their own strength.

"That's a shame. It would have been good! We would have shared, too," said a Goron. Meghan stayed silent. Then Darunia broke the silence.

"Meghan! Would you like to take a turn?"

"Uh…" There was no way in _hell_ she could move that thing.

"Come on, Meghan! It would be fun," Goron Link said. She looked at Link, with a look on her face that clearly said "HELP ME!" He gave one back that said, "OK."

"O…O…K…"

"Come on! Go Meghan!" they cheered. She walked over to the boulder, which she couldn't even see over. It was just her height. She put her hands on it, and pushed with all her strength. She kept pushing. She stopped for a second, taking in a deep breath. Then she resumed. Link looked on for a second, and then decided to help. He walked over to her.

"Let me help," he said quietly.

"No, wait, I almost have it," she responded jokingly. She pushed with all her body weight, and with all her strength. "I'm good, I'm good…"

"Seriously, Meg. This thing weighs twenty times more than you. Really."

"Why…would…that…matter? It…probably…weighs…more…than…you…too."

"Meghan, think logically," he said, also jokingly.

"OK, please help me."

"I'd be glad to." He put his hands next to hers, and together they pushed. Meghan crossed her fingers and hoped that all the pins wouldn't be knocked down. To her relief, four had not been knocked down.

"Yes!" She said. A Goron rolled the boulder back to them. They pushed it again, randomly…and sort of to one side…

"Aw, man!" Meghan said, when it completely missed. "That was so close!"

"It's OK, Meghan." Darunia advanced on her.

"Yeah, I guess I tried and that's all that mattered, right?" she moved beside Link.

"Why do you run, Meghan?"

"Because—"

"And why do you run beside Link?"

"What? Because-"

"Nabooru has been saying strange things lately. I wonder if-"

"What?" she asked sharply and suddenly, taking a step away from Link now.

"Nothing. Just Nabooru talks of strange things sometimes."

"OK…" She hated when they did that.

Darunia, Link, Link, and Meghan talked while all the other Gorons took their turns. They chatted of many things, good, bad, and just plain weird (rocks!). An hour or so had passed before all the Gorons had had a few turns. Link and Meghan didn't want to go again, so they just said they were more inclined to watch. Which was true.

"Yay! I won!" Gordley shouted a long time later. He had, of course (to shut him up) been using bombs each turn, but he seemed to be especially good at it either way. Meghan thought to herself, _heh heh, maybe he should just stick with bowling._

"Good job," she said, but she didn't think that he heard her. He was too busy being cheered by Gorons. "Or you can just ignore me. I'm down with that." She felt self-conscious for some odd reason. She quickly let the feeling go and skipped to Link, who was only about two feet away, so it required only about two skips.

"Hiya! Dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun, dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. I'm gonna fight 'em off. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back." She started doing the head banging thing, her hair flopping around, and doing the air guitar thing, "playing" the bass part to "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.

"I'm gonna fight 'em off. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back, They're gonna rip it off. Taking their time right behind my back. And I'm talkin' to myself at night, because I can't forget. Back and forth through my mind, behind a cigarette. And the message comin' from my eyes says leave it alone…  
Don't wanna hear about it. Every single one's got a story to tell. Everyone knows about it, from the Queen of England to the hounds of heck. And if I catch it comin' back my way…"

Link and Darunia looked at her. She was a one-person-band. "And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, right before the lord. All the words are gonna bleed from me, and I will think no more. And the stains comin' from my blood tell me, 'go back home'..." She took a look at her audience. "What? I had it stuck in my head, even though I haven't heard it in quite a while."

"That was a depressing song," Link said. Goron Link looked at her.

"It's not bad."

"Even though I have no idea what you were talking about half the time."

"What did that mean?" Goron Link asked.

"Hmm…I have no idea." Darunia looked at her.

"Yes, she is special." Link said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Meghan smiled. Then her smile faded.

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?"

"More and less than you could ever comprehend." She stepped back.

"Yes, well..." Darunia started.

"Sorry, I often have these strange outbreaks and do weird things. Please forgive."

Darunia just laughed heartily. "That's what I love! Spontaneous musical outbursts."

"Thanks." There was a bit of silence. Meghan looked at the ground. There was this odd feeling around.

"Meghan, there's something I have to do." Link said suddenly, as though he'd just had an idea. "I'll be right back."

"What?" she asked, wondering what he could have to do so suddenly.

"I'll be back. Darunia, will you excuse me?"

"Of course."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to consult...somebody on…something." He started backing up, smiling mischievously. But there was determination in his eyes.

"What would that something be?" she asked out of plain curiosity. He was acting weird.

"I need to see Zelda."

"Why do you need to see her?"

"Be- Sheik! I mean, Zel-I mean…" Zelda had just appeared, in her Sheik form, behind Link.

"You always seem to pop up when we have a question." Meghan said.

"Yes. I guess I'm just fortunate. Link, tell me, what do you need me for?"

"I needed to ask you…a question, in private."

"Why, sure Link!" she said cheerily. But Link could see some kind of resignation in her. She was not as happy as she appeared to be, as she tried to seem. Her eyes darted quickly over to Meghan every few seconds, and he thought he got a strange wave of guilt coming from her.

"Can we go…over there?" he said, pointing.

"Of course. I'll be back, Meghan, Darunia, Link." She nodded to each of them politely, and winked at Goron Link. She followed Link down the mountain.

_She always seems to pop up at the weirdest moments. I wonder if that really was just a coincidence. Ahhh, she probably has her reasons._ It was then that she realized. _Link! Don't leave me alone with the Gorons! What if they attempt to hug me? _She whined in her head. _And what are you asking Zelda that you can't tell her in front of me, anyway?_

…Uh-oh, someone's jealous. She had this kind of sinking feeling in her stomach…

* * *

"That's what I want to do. But do you promise you won't tell her?"

"Of course. I'll tell her something else."

"Thank you Zelda." He removed the Ocarina of Time from his pocket. "Oh, yeah, and thanks for this." He held it tight in his hand. Zelda looked down.

"Of course, Link. I know you really should keep it," she said very quietly. She didn't want to discuss it with him. They stood in silence for a second.

"I'll see you in a while." He played the Bolero of Fire. Zelda did some quick thinking, and walked back to Meghan. She saw the look on her face when Link didn't come with her.

"Hi again...uh, where's Link?" she asked, not wanting to seem too curious or eager. She really wanted to know what they'd talked about, up the mountain and out of site. It made Meghan sad that she was left out.

"He had to go retrieve something. He dropped it down the mountain."

"O…K…how could he have possibly dropped anything down the mountain? I was with him the whole time and didn't see that…" _But then…what? Why would he need to ask Zelda something then?_

"You are probably wondering why he needed to speak to me. Well, it's because what he dropped was the Ocarina of Time." Meghan's jaw dropped.

"What? That can't be true. He wouldn't drop something, especially not the ocarina. I would have seen, anyway."

"Unfortunately, it's the truth. It must have fallen out of his pocket." She looked over the side of the mountain. "Let us just hope that it is all right."

"Yeah..."

_Good, she believes me. I don't like telling the untruth, though, _Zelda thought. But Meghan actually didn't believe her one bit. "How did he drop it? And when? I never saw that happen."

"Well, he did."

"That stinks." What a lie! Meghan was fuming inside. What exactly was Zelda up to? If she had been anyone other than…well, Zelda…then Meghan would surely think she was up to something scheming and possibly terrible. But she knew that couldn't be the case. Everything she did was truly just caring, truly just for the sake of other people. Still, Meghan couldn't help but harbor a few slightly buried resentful feelings toward her.

"Yes. Oh, yes, Meghan, I have some things for you at the castle. If you could come at the end of the day, that would be wonderful. I must be going now." Zelda stepped back and disappeared.

"She always has to go somewhere!" Meghan said partly to herself, although the two Gorons heard. "I don't understand her."

"She is busy, Meghan. Let her go."

"I know."

"Do you need a hug?" Goron Link asked.

"No!" she yelled, and stepped back.

* * *

"Thank you, Biggoron."

"Remember, one year from now."

"Yes, I will."

* * *

"Mmmm…" Meghan started humming the Gerudo song while waiting for Link to return. She was inside Darunia's room. She still didn't know why she was there, but Darunia sure loved the Fairy Ocarina and kept trying to play Saria's Song.

"Meghan, how do you…?"

"Let me see it." She held out her hand and he put it in it. Meghan brought it to her lips. She took in a breath.

"Meghan Meghan!" A squeaky voice said, rushing toward her.

"Navi?" She turned her head and saw Navi fly in through the doorway.

"Meghan! You'll never guess what Link just did!"

"What is that?" she asked, really curious. Maybe someone would finally tell her what all this secrecy was about.

"H-"

"Navi!" Link jumped and closed his hands around her, appearing from nowhere into the darkened doorway. He held her gently but firmly inside his fingers.

"Lemeego!" Navi said, her voice muffled.

"What is it? What did you do?"

"I…went down the mountain!" He smiled at her innocently.

"Is it OK? Zelda told me." She gave him a skeptical glance.

"Is what OK?"

"Duh. The reason you _supposedly_ went down the mountain," she said. "You didn't really go down the mountain, did you?"

Link blinked and let Navi go. _It must be what Zelda told her. But what is she talking about? I can't even pretend to go along..._"Oh, yeah…it's great! Couldn't be any better. In fact, why don't we forget all about that?"

_I can see why he would want to._

"Link, I was just about to play Saria's Song for Darunia, but I think perhaps now you should, because you are way better at it than I am."

"OK, I think." He knew what Darunia would do. He'd start dancing like a maniac. Oh well. Link got a bit of stage fright for a second, though. He hesitated when he brought the Ocarina of Time to his mouth. It looked like Meghan was looking at it extra carefully. _Maybe this is what she was asking about..._

He closed his eyes, a look of calm and peace washing over him before he began.

Sure enough, Darunia began to dance! Meghan watched in awe…she had never seen such a thing. He jumped from one foot to another, bouncing all the while and singing the tune to himself. Link lowered the Ocarina with his mouth open.

"YEAH! OH BABY! SARIA, THAT IS ONE FINE TUNE!" he danced for at least five more minutes before,

"Isn't he ever going to get tired?" she asked Link.

"Hmm, depends."

"On what?"

"If he has nothing else to do, he will go on all day."

"Should we stop him?"

"No, he's happy."

"Yeah, you're right." So they leaned against the wall and watched Darunia's dance. His son wasn't present at the time. So they were alone together as they watched him.

"Link…this is getting strange," she said as Darunia hopped in circles. "Do you think he would notice if we left and came back a few minutes later?"

"No, but we shouldn't try…we should say goodbye properly."

"But we're standing right here and he doesn't hear us. I don't think he is going to miss us."

"He'll stop eventually." Meghan watched him.

"OK, this is getting tiring." He didn't seem to hear her. "Um…Darunia! Link, let's say it at the same time."

He just looked at her for a second, then nodded.

"One, two three! Darunia!" Meghan said by herself. Darunia kept dancing. "Oh, you were supposed to say it on the count of three."

"All right…"

"One…two…three! DARUNIA!" they both yelled.

"Yeah?" he said, winding down his dancing.

"That worked!" Meghan said.

Darunia glanced around, then asked, "Uh…has anyone seen Link?" (referring to his son, Goron Link) He ran into the entrance to the Fire Temple.

"Well…so seriously, how did you drop it? I never saw you drop it. Tell me the truth, please."

"I…um…accidentally threw it?" He just gave her a calm look. It was amazing how something so obviously a lie even seemed like the truth when she noted his calm demeanor.

"What?" she asked at the stupid remark. "I never saw you throw it."

"Yeah."

"And you wouldn't anyway."

"Yeah…"

"So how did you drop it?"

"I guess I just did."

"Ah, I give up!"

He smiled victoriously, knowing that she knew he was lying. _But you'll know one day why, hopefully. _"I wonder where Darunia went?"

"That was _way_ too comical for comfort, when he ran in there." She laughed.

"Yeah."

"Do you think he's coming back?"

"No." He shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither. Should we go?"

"I think maybe we should find him. Before we leave."

"Does anybody ever even know what time it is around here?"

"Did you look at the clock?"

"Clock?" she looked to where he pointed. "Oh…OK, yeah that helps." The clock read 4:59. "What? Wow, we were here longer than I thought."

"Yes, one minute…not even…until 17:00." Suddenly they heard large footsteps. And a pair of smaller ones. Then Darunia came back through the entrance/exit to the Fire Temple, with Link at his side.

"It is nearly 17:00," Darunia stated calmly.

"Should we get going, Link?" Meghan asked quietly.

"Yes, we should. Thank you, Sage Darunia. We had a good time today." Link gave him the same, sincere farewell that he'd given the other sages. He was, at times, quiet and stoic, but the boy had _respect_. Tons of it. She loved it. _He was the type of guy a girl's parents would love…_

"Bowling was a blast!" Meghan said.

"Yes, the bowling was fun." Link agreed, although neither of them really meant it. Meghan never like bowling back home, and Link…had a bad experience with a bombchu one time when he was younger.

"I am glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to join us any time."

"Yes, please come back, Link and Meghan!" Goron Link said, smiling.

"OK, we will! Bye!" Meghan said.

"Good bye," Link said as they left the room and into the darkness between rooms. They entered the area with the huge Goron vase, and made their way to the exit. Some Gorons still outside said bye to them as they walked by. They went down the mountain, talking about some things. Meghan decided not to make a big deal of the ocarina thing. It was OK, wasn't it? There had to be a good reason for his lying.

When they were down the mountain and coming into Kakariko Village, Meghan said to Link, "Zelda wanted me to go to the castle at the end of the day."

"Do you want to go now?"

"Um, yeah. The only thing is…I think…she…no offense, but she wanted me to go alone."

"That's OK. I'll find something to do. In fact, there's a lot that I have to do. I'll walk you there, and you can have fun with Zelda."

"Link!" she playfully smacked him in the arm. "You make me feel bad."

"Please, don't. I don't mind. And that hurt."

"Whatever." She smiled and laughed.

"It would take forever just to walk there. Should we warp?"

"Where to? And it wouldn't take that long to walk!" She didn't want to go in the Temple of Time, though that's where she was sure he was thinking to go.

"The Temple of Time. And yes it would."

"Oh, please, can we not go there? I really, really don't want to. And why are you suddenly thinking that it would take long? We could have been halfway there already."

"Sure. That's OK, I don't want to either. I just thought it would be fastest."

"We can ride Epona."

"Or maybe just you."

"What?"

"Like I said, I have some things to do. It'd be easier for you to go by yourself." _OK, what's with the sudden attitude change. First he's all like 'darn, I wanna come,' and now he seems like he doesn't want anything to do with me! If he had just replaced the 'some' with 'better', he would have said I have BETTER things to do! This dude needs to make up his mind. What just happened? Did I do something?_

"But…"

"I'll walk you to the field."

"But I want you to come too!" She blurted out.

"I'm sorry. I'll see you later," he said reassuringly, and he smiled. Meghan stared in shock, and weirdness.

"All right then…" This was getting odd. She had no idea what he was thinking. Did he want to spend time with her or not? But she stopped those kinds of thoughts before they got too deep.

When they had reached the field, Meghan took out the Fairy Ocarina and called Epona. As Epona trotted over the bridge, Meghan put the Fairy Ocarina back in her backpack. She sighed with relief, seeing the saddle on her back.

Meghan put her foot in the stirrup, and pulled herself on.

"When you are finished, go back to my house. I'll either be there or somewhere else." He smiled at his own stupid joke.

"That's really narrowing it down. What if you aren't there?"

"Then I'll come back."

"But how will you know when I'm there?"

"Well, fairies can be quite useful."

Navi beamed. But then her color faded and she started, "Hey! Wait! You want to use me as your little messenger? Well, I'm…" she continued on inside of Link's hands, where he had her suddenly securely grasped. All Meghan heard were muffled sounds. Meghan suppressed her giggles as Link rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you later Link," she said, forgetting Link's strange attitude.

"Yes, I will see you." Meghan turned Epona and led her into a trot as they crossed the bridge. Link let Navi go.

"Navi! That is the second time you almost did that!"

"Did what?"

"You know what!" She had almost spoiled his plan to Meghan. Which would be awful.

"No, I don't."

"Just go to the forest. Come back to me when she is there." Link turned towards Kakariko.

"OK, Mister Hylian." He turned to face her and glared.

"Don't." Only Meghan could call him that.

"Bye!" Navi flew away nervously. For some reason, as she noticed too, Link was acting so strange lately. She thought to herself while flying.

"He is so mean to me for some reason all the time! All I want to do is tell Meghan, but for some strange reason, he won't let me! And the worst part is, he won't even do it himself!"

* * *

Meghan pushed Epona into a gallop. Not that she was far away, but it would take even less time.

She didn't even remember the decision she had to make.

At the bridge, Meghan dismounted. She let Epona go and walked inside the walls. She noticed some people in some of the buildings. They seemed to be setting up the shops. That was good. It seemed Hyrule was recovering. Maybe faster than herself. She could never completely forget what had happened during the times of war, and she inwardly missed the sense of purpose, the self righteous ability to help save this world. But her conscious self didn't recognize this longing, and so she didn't think about it.

When she had passed through the town, she came into the castle yard. A group of guards were positioned along the path, and some in the grass along the path and far off.

"Looks like Zelda has the place guarded again. How am I supposed to get in?" she asked herself. The guards noticed her. One person was standing in the middle of some guards, dressed in a yellow tunic and had a sword at his side. He had red hair, which was slightly long in the front, sticking up. He turned and faced her, making eye contact. His face was handsome and he really looked like a fun guy. His face reminded her of that guy who played the young Obi-wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels…what was his name...Ewan McGregor!

"Are you the girl, Meghan, who Zelda wishes to let in the castle?"

"I am Meghan."

"Come this way, then. Zelda is expecting you." The guy turned and walked down the path. Meghan followed some distance behind.

"Halt," said a voice in Hylian. She had heard it before.

She turned her head to where the voice came from. She silently groaned. It was General…what was his name? Whatever it was, she hadn't gotten a good first impression of him.

"Sir, I am under orders from Princess Zelda to escort Miss Meghan inside the castle. Please excuse us for a moment, this is an urgent matter," the man escorting her answered in English.

"No. We need to perform a check on her," he said again in Hylian, moving in front of them.

"Sir, not many other girls look like she does. I'm fairly certain this is completely her. Please move so we may proceed. This is important!" He was smiling a boyish smile at the General, and he spoke with humor. But she was sure that underneath, he was just as annoyed with this annoying annoyer annoyface as everyone else.

"Do not speak to me as though I don't know what I'm doing! Do you want to lose your position?" He seemed angered.

Her guy frowned now. "General, you don't have the power to make me lose my position. I'm the spymaster. We're in two completely different professions," he said in a very serious tone. To Meghan, this guy seemed liked the type who wouldn't be serious often. "And Princess Zelda told me not to listen to anyone if they try this. Now, move aside, we must see the princess."

"I am here to _protect_ the princess."

"And I am here to obey the princess." He walked forward, and moved very close to the other man's face. "Disobey her, and _you_ will lose your position," he said gravely. The red-haired man towered over the general, who looked frail and disheveled beside him.

"She wouldn't."

"Sir, I am a spy. I do—how should I phrase this—know certain things." The general turned red from anger.

"You _spied_ on the princess?"

"No, sir. She told me." He flicked a smile in Meghan's direction, gestured to her, and walked past the flaming general. Meghan hurried past him too. Once they were out of earshot, Meghan said, "Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome." He laughed heartily. "That guy is well beyond aggravating, if you have to deal with him for more than...oh, like two seconds."

They both laughed. "So you're the spymaster?" she asked, putting some things together.

"Yes I am, Meghan Black from Earth of the human species!"

Well that was unnerving. "You must be that spy Zelda was talking about yesterday."

"She talked about me?" he asked suggestively, waggling his eyebrows and turning to look at Meghan as they walked.

"Yeah. She said…well never mind."

"You're not going to tell me?" he said, flashing a smile. Meghan remembered the way Zelda had talked about him…

"…_Or that new spy…" she sighed __**dreamily,**__ "Yes, yes he would do very nicely."_

Meghan realized something._ Oh my goddess, Zelda likes this dude! Not too shabby, either. Hmm…_

"No." He laughed.

"You are funny! Is this the way all humans are?"

"No." She didn't like stereotyping. Humans were all different, just like Hylians. "Some of them are mean."

"I see."

"And some of them are hyper."

"Hyper?"

"Yes, it means like crazy and stuff."

"Ah."

"_And some of them would be drooling over you the second they saw you_." She muttered to herself. Yup, Zelda had good taste.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." He laughed again, a great, cheerful sound.

They had reached the castle.

"Zelda will be waiting for you in the throne room," he said, stopping.

"Uh…and where would that be?"

"Oh, right. You don't know your way around yet, do you?"

"No, but you do?"

"I've been here for longer than you might think. All right. I'll show you." He walked inside, and Meghan followed.

"_Yet_?" she said to herself.

"I should introduce myself," he said sheepishly. "I bet I know a lot about you but you know close to nothing about me. Have fun on Death Mountain today?" he asked. If he wasn't so full of humor and that wasn't such a joke, she would have found him creepy (and who could find someone who looked like him creepy?).

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, I had lots of fun. Should I just call you spy?"

"No, no," he laughed again. "My name is Luke."

Again with the Star Wars! "Skywalker," she said aloud.

"Sky…walker?" he asked.

"Um, never mind. So..." she started nervously, "you said you've been here longer than I think?"

"Started training as a spy here when I was just fourteen," he said. "My father was also a spy. He began to teach me."

"So did you know Zelda?"

"Then? No, not very well. She was elusive then." He chuckled.

After many confusing halls, they reached the throne room. The wide, wooden doors were open, although guards were stationed outside them. The spymaster walked in, and Meghan followed. Zelda was talking in the middle of the large room to some ladies in fine dresses, though not as nice as her own. Zelda looked and saw them coming. She smiled.

"Hello Meghan. Hello Luke. Oh, I guess you two never met properly. Meghan, this is Luke Rinelo. Luke, this is Meghan Black."

"Nice to _properly_ meet you," Meghan said, smiling.

"Yes, it is nice to meet you," he said, bowing low. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Meghan didn't know what to do. Zelda smiled. Luke beamed as he straightened himself. "Zelda says much about you, yes."

"What does Zelda say about me...?"

"I'm afraid I will not tell you, because you wouldn't tell me what Zelda says about me." He smiled and winked at Meghan.

"Oh, all right, you two, whatever you're talking about." She smiled, though she didn't remember telling Meghan much about Luke. "Now, Luke. If you will excuse us, we must go."

"Of course, princess."

"Luke." She stopped, giving him a stern look. "Don't set an-"

"I couldn't resist, Zelda." He grinned.

"Come Meghan. We'll see you later, Luke."

"Bye!" Meghan said.

"Bye, Meghan. Bye, Zelda." Zelda walked out of the room with Meghan following. They went through all the corridors. For some reason, Meghan didn't remember going up stairs last time they were here, but they did this time.

"They finished making your clothes," she said as they walked. That was quick! "Meghan, the room is also finished. Have you made your decision?" They were outside the room intended for Meghan's use. Meghan froze up.

_Oh my god. I never even mentioned it to Link. What am I supposed to do?_

"Meghan, I do not want to put pressure on you. You may, of course, do whatever you please. Have you discussed this with Link? Maybe he has some advice. I know you two are great friends."

"...yes," she lied. "I'm…I think…" she had to decide very fast. What was she going to do? "I'm…going to stay."

"Are you sure this is your decision? Do you feel this is the right thing?"

"Yes," she said very gravely.

"And you do not need more time to discuss it, or to think it over?"

"Yes." _Oh, stop making me doubt myself!_

"Very well. Welcome to your new home, Meghan." She opened the door. Meghan saw the same room she saw a day ago. "This is your living room." She walked to a door on the right wall. "And this is your bedroom." She opened the door to reveal a large bedroom. In the middle was a large, four-post bed. There was also a dresser with many drawers, and a large mirror on top of it. A door opened to a large balcony on the left side. Next to the door was a wardrobe thing. "That is where most of your clothes are. In those drawers you will find most everything you will need. And that, of course, is the balcony." Meghan nodded and swallowed. _This is where I'm going to live? This bedroom is two times larger than mine on Earth! Maybe more…_

"If you need any more clothes, please tell me or any of the seamstresses. Also, if you are ever hungry, the kitchens are down the hallway across from my room, the first left hallway, and the third right. Not too hard to miss, but if you need any directions, feel free to ask anyone around. Let's see…"

"Um, Zelda. I need to get my things from…Saria's house."

"Oh, right, right. Do you want me to teleport you there?"

"No, I'll go by myself." Her heart was sinking, realizing she couldn't just hop and skip over to Link's house in the morning. It really was a long distance.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Thank you anyway."

"Of course. Now, I still need to help you out of the castle!"

"Yeah." She laughed. "Right."

"Maybe I should put together some directions for you…that would be a good idea, I believe."

"Yeah." They exited the room. Meghan tried to remember all the directions they turned, but gave up after a while. She sighed.

Why had she made such a decision? If only she had remembered to tell him…then she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable about it. She felt like they were growing further apart. This wouldn't help things one bit.

Before she knew it, she was out of the castle and in the fresh air. The sun was setting.

"Thank you Zelda. I'll be back later."

"You are all right the rest of the way?"

"Yes."

"All right, I'll have Luke here or a guard waiting when you come back to bring you to your room."

"OK, thanks." Meghan walked away. As soon as she was sure Zelda couldn't see her, she ran as fast as she could. She ran through the town, and into the field. She didn't even stop to call Epona. She just kept running. She ran to the fountain, her and Epona's fountain. When she got to the forest, she ran through it, following Epona's hoof prints and coming to the cave. She slowed down in the cave and walked through the almost total darkness, until she got to the brighter fountain area. She walked slowly to the steps in front of the water. She sat on the second to last one, and rested her head on her arms on the top area, where the water just barely touched. She observed it, the water completely still, undisturbed.

Why couldn't life be as certain as that calm pool of clear water? Why must it more resemble a river, rushing one way and turning another?She sighed deeply.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrr…" came the sound of a horse.

"Epona?" The horse walked over to her. "How did you know I was here? Did you follow me?" Epona came and sniffed her. "Silly, silly horse." She rubbed her neck. Epona brought her head back up, so Meghan had to stand to reach her. "Epona, you're so smart. What am I to do with you? What am I going to do with myself?" She gave Epona a massage for a few minutes, telling the horse about her decision. "I guess I'll have to go tell Link. This isn't going to be easy. Come on." She took Epona's reins and led her back out the cave. When they were outside, Meghan mounted and told Epona to go slow through the woods.

When they were out of the woods, Epona went faster and they made their way to the Kokiri Forest.

"How is Link going to respond to this? How am I going to? Why do I keep asking questions in parallel structure?"

At last she had reached the forest, not knowing what lay ahead for Link and her friendship.

She sighed again as she dismounted next to the forest entrance. She gave Epona a quick pat, and then went inside. She crossed the bridge slowly, thinking of what to say to Link.

"Link, I'm sorry but I have to stay at the castle. No, uh, Link, Zelda has invited me to live at the castle, and I decided to. Link, I'm going to live at the castle from now on…Link, you're my best friend, but I'm going to live with Zelda…Link, I can't live without you, but I'm going to!" That one was a mistake. She was in the forest now, and she saw Link conveniently standing next to his house. "Link…oh god!" She ran and didn't stop until she had Link in an embrace. She nearly knocked him down, running like that. She started crying almost instantly upon touching him. Although he had no idea why she was crying, he had a feeling it was big, so he held her tight and comforted her. After a few minutes, he finally said, "It's OK. Tell me what the matter is."

"Link, I'm…so…so…sorry," she said between sobs. "I…I…Zelda told me…to…to go…she asked me…if I wanted to…to live in the castle and I never told you because I forgot and then she reminded me and I still never told you, but then I needed to tell her some answer cause I felt bad so I said yes and now I have to go live there and I can't be here anymore and I'm afraid if I don't live there, Zelda would be offended and I don't want to offend her, but I couldn't say no because she was so nice but I couldn't say yes, because I don't want to be far from here and I…I…I…said yes anyway! And now you are probably mad at me! _'tcomewithmetothecastle!_" She started crying again.

"Sh, it's OK. I'm not angry with you." He combed through her hair with his fingers (secretly relishing the feeling) (and she was kinda like, "wtf"), and said very quietly, "First, it was your decision to make. I wouldn't be angry with you ever about that. And second, I was never angry with you. What made you think that?"

"You were going to come with me, but then suddenly you didn't want to."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I only just remembered that I had something to do. I shouldn't have done that, though. I promise I won't decide to leave you so suddenly again."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"No. I swear I wasn't."

"OK..."

"Come on, let's go inside, and we can talk about this." They climbed up the ladder to Link's house. When inside, Link told Meghan to sit on the bed. He walked around once, faced her, then said, "So you'll stay at the castle. It's really not that big a deal." Though inside, he knew it was. He had never forgotten what Saria had told him to do, when they first met Meghan. Saria had told him to protect her. Because he had felt that she was somehow important.

So their being far away from each other meant he couldn't do his job. But that's wasn't the problem, really. This was, if things went the way he knew they _should_, perfect for his plan of not forming more attachment between them. _But he didn't want this. He didn't._

"Yes, it is, Link. We'll be so far away," she said, wiping her face with the handkerchief he had just offered her.

"True, but that doesn't hinder our ability to see each other during the day. And at night, you'll be sleeping, so you won't even miss me." He smiled warmly (_but_ _I'll miss you_).

"But what if something happens at night? You never know."

"Meghan, you'll be in the castle. There you'll be protected by endless amounts of guards, and not to mention Zelda." (_It's not enough_.)

"I'm not worried about being _protected_."

"Well, you won't be lonely. You'll have Zelda." (_Jealous of her_.)

"And Luke."

"Who's Luke?" (_;asjfd;lksajfoajwoiejf;ojsoefja;ojf! WHO THE HELL IS LUKE?_)

"Luke is Zelda's spymaster and…uh…friend." She shrugged. "I met him today. He's really nice."

"I see." (_;asdjf;asodifja;woejflkasvn,mcxvlksjdfasghj calm down calm down_.)

"He has a sword."

"Really?" he asked in a comical sort of tone, to cheer her up (_goddesses, whyyyy do you do this to me?_).

"Yup," she said, smiling through her tear stained face. He was silent while he thought for a second. Then he pulled up a chair and sat across from Meghan on it.

"OK. We can have a plan. I'll be waiting for you every morning in Hyrule Castle Town at 9:30. You come and we'll go."

"Sounds good."

"And if anything ever, goddesses forbid, happens in the castle where you or Zelda are in danger, I'll be right here every night. Take Epona and come." She nodded. "And if anything happens here that I need to see you, I'll find my way there."

"Don't you need to know where my room is?"

He laughed. "I'll find it."

"Yeah," she said, laughing a bit. "But what if I need to speak to you? It stinks that you don't have telephones." Because she was _totally_ anticipating teenage angst moments where she needed to call her BFF ASAP.

"Oh, telephones...right, that's the thing where you can talk to people who are far away?" She nodded. "I don't know, I don't think it's necessary. What would be cool is being able to send letters to people, no matter where they are."

She burst out laughing! "Link, you just invented texting!"

"You actually have that?" he asked, surprised, his eyes open wide.

"Yeah, we do. But anyway, what do we do?"

"I guess the best way would for me to go to you, or you to come to me."

"What about Saria's Song?"

"Well, that sort of only contacts Saria."

"Yeah but…never mind."

"What?"

"No, never mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It was stupid."

"I'm sure it wasn't."

"But it was. So go on, please."

"We can ask Zelda if there is any way to contact each other next time we see her."

"OK."

"So, are we all right with everything?"

"Yes...I think. I hope."

"Remember, I'll be here. I won't go anywhere, just in case."

"It's still so far away, though."

"We'll make do."

"OK." Meghan looked at him for a second. He was lost in thought. "Link, I should probably get my things from Saria's house."

"Oh, right." Meghan got up and walked outside, with Link following her. She went into Saria's house. Link stayed outside.

Meghan removed her backpack from her back and opened it. Its contents were two empty bottles, some rupees she gathered over time, and an ocarina. She slipped some of the rupees and the ocarina into her jeans' pockets. Her pants were in bad condition, good thing she was getting new ones! Yet…

She put the brush Saria gave her into the pack, and her hair ties. She stuffed her clothes into the backpack. But alas, they did not all fit. She managed to get two shirts in, but nothing else. What was she supposed to put them in? _Guess I'll have to carry them. _It was only one shirt and one pair of pants. Yet she couldn't leave them behind…they were too special. She realized she had close to nothing. She'd never imagined living with so few possessions, yet here she was. It didn't bother her, though, as she might have thought it would.

Once she had closed the backpack (Which seemed to have stretched to even fit what she did get to put in it) she looked around the house. It wasn't messy at all, but Meghan straightened it out. She made the bed nicer than it was, and made sure nothing was on the floor, straightened the rug, and fixed the things on the table. Everything seemed like it was when she first came.

_("Only One"-Yellowcard)  
_

"Good bye, my…temporary home. I'll see you soon." She walked out the door, clothes in hand and backpack on back.

"Come on," he said. They walked next to each other to the exit of the forest.

When they reached the field, Meghan found Epona where she left her. She stuffed her stuff in the pouch on the side of the saddle and turned to face Link.

"I don't want to go."

"It's OK. I'll see you tomorrow. 9:30." She nodded. "It's not a big deal. We won't be that far apart." She moved closer to him and hugged him tight for a while. When she finally let go, she mounted Epona and turned her.

She looked back at Link.

'Bye' she mouthed, and turned her head. She pushed Epona forward before he could respond.

"Bye."

Tears flowed from Meghan's eyes, for many reasons. Too many for her to even know most of them. Before she knew it, she was at the castle. Luke was there, talking to some guards, when he saw her. She was a bit far away, so she wiped her eyes.

"Hi there," he said. Meghan forced a smile. "Come along." He brought her into the castle, then to her room. Meghan was silent the whole time, unless Luke asked her a question.

"Here you go."

"Thanks." She opened the door to her room. She wanted him to go away, but he was watching her…

When she closed the door, she heard his footsteps farther and farther away. She leaned against the door and looked in the room. There was still a door that Zelda didn't tell her about. She went and opened it.

Inside was a bathroom, not a bathroom like we know it, though it had a toilet, but a _bath_room. There was a rather large bathtub, and a large mirror. It looked like they had running water…how strange.

She closed the door and went into the bedroom. She lay on the bed. It was not as bouncy as Link's, but was very comfortable.

She got up and looked in the wardrobe thingy. There were lots of clothes in there, hanging on hangers. There were many more colors than she had seen in her closet since…years ago. She had stopped wearing colors when she was thirteen. And now she was nearly sixteen. Was she really going to quit now?

Well, red wasn't so bad. There were lots of red shirts in there. White was doable, definitely. There were pairs of white pants, and white shirts of different styles. She saw some blue, and yellow. Maybe later she'd wear that. And she even saw black.

After looking around (it was like shopping, with all the new clothes, and she hated shopping), she found pajamas. How she knew they were pajamas, she had no clue, but that's what it looked like. They were loose, white, adorned with lace.

_I swear. Zelda must be looking inside my head with her magic._ All the clothes looked like something from home…

She changed into the pajamas, a pair of pants and a loose shirt, long-sleeved shirt. She was too upset to worry about liking them or not. She put the sword on the dresser, and her knife on the nightstand.

There were about ten pillows on the queen sized (she estimated) bed. She tossed all but two on the floor. She pulled back the blankets. There was a comforter, two smaller blanket, and sheets.

"What the heck?" She put the comforter and one blanket on the wood floor. She left the smaller blanket, which was red, and the white sheet on the bed. She looked at the bed before lying down. She got in it and looked in the large room. It was too large. It was about the same size as Saria's whole house.

Her eyes started to water.

"_Link, I miss you,_" she whispered. She started to cry. And she cried some more. It wasn't even like she'd usually be with him at this time. But just knowing he was so far really bothered her.

That night she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

**Haha I kept thinking this chapter was short, compared to the others.**

**Haha it's not. Just the day is short. It's _12,794_ words. What the heck was I doing with my life? O_O **


	20. Remix: Day Five: Galaxy of the Horses

**Oh my goddesses, talk about plot holes! I just realized something terrible! You know when that giant spirit monster attacks Kakariko and everything is on fire and stuff and Sheik is there and stuff? I realized that afterward, they kinda just forget about all the things that are on fire…which in real life I know Link would never do. I may go back and rewrite a tiny bit to make it make more sense. (I was watching something on the news about a mailman saving people from their burning home when I realized this, because they kept calling that man a "hero," which obviously makes me think of Link. XD And then I was like wow, I should make Link save people from burning houses, when I realized SHIT I need to make Link save people from burning houses!)**

**Also, my mind is being completely blown lately because of this freaking Hyrule Historia thing. So many things about OoT are being confirmed and I'm like waaahhhhh! HALF OF IT MAKES ME **_**INSANELY**_** DEPRESSED like the third timeline split? I CAN'T TOLERATE THINKING ABOUT IT. Also, although most people already mostly knew this unofficially, it was **_**officially**_** confirmed that the Hero's Shade from TP was OoT Link. Which seemed cool. Until you freaking realize that a) HE TALKS. MY BABY TALKS 3 and b) HE'S DEAD. MY BABY'S DEAD. :( (lolz I mean, I **_**know**_** he dies eventually and that hero isn't even on the right timeline anyway, so it's ok I guess! TP takes place on the child timeline. Which means it's not actually **_**my**_** Link, just his alternate universe timeline self. I'm thinking that this story would take place on the adult timeline, which leads to WW, not TP. :)**

**Also, it was confirmed that Kaepora Gaebora is Rauru "reincarnated." Which kinda makes me wonder whether some parts where I have Rauru (like in Day 3) are feasible according to this. Is Rauru actually able to leave the Sacred Realm? He must be just a spirit, right? Maybe it is just his spirit that goes to fetch Link and Meggie. And anyone noticed how he has no hands in the official art? And I guess this means he's dead. Which may or may not mean that the other sages are dead but I'm thinking it doesn't **_**necessarily**_** mean so. I hope not. Cause that's awful. I don't like that theory. XD**

**Oh, my blabbing…I'm so sorry! XD ONWARD! :D**

* * *

**Day Five**

Link had had a restless night. He couldn't stop thinking that horrible things were going to happen. The one time he actually fell asleep, he had a horrible dream he never wanted to even think about again. He sat up and looked towards his door. Why had he ever even allowed it?

He knew he'd be like this…yet it still happened.

* * *

Meghan woke to the sound of birds chirping. She opened one eye and looked out the double doors to the balcony. They were like a window that she could see through completely. The only hints that it was a door were the small gold handles and a gold frame.

Small, colorful birds were perched on the thin rail around the balcony, singing cheery, bright songs. She wanted them to shut up.

She wasn't in a good mood.

"Shut up," she said to them. Obviously they didn't hear. "Shut up! I'm sleeping!" she reached on to the floor and picked up a pillow. She chucked it at the door while still lying down. They flew away. She turned and lay on her back. She pulled the blanket over her head. She listened and heard a ticking sound. Like a clock. She pulled the blanket back off over her head and saw a clock on the wall to her left, next to the dresser. She squinted to see what it said.

"Sugar honey iced tea!" she yelled loudly. It said 9:23! "Oh my god." She jumped out of bed and ran to the wardrobe. She threw the doors open. She pulled out a pair of black pants and a white shirt. The shirt was three quarters sleeved, and the pants were just plain black pants. She looked around the room…where the heck did she put her backpack? It wasn't next to her sword or her nightstand…or anywhere she saw…

"Darn!" she ran out of the room. She looked in the living room and found it on the couch. "How did you get there?" she opened it quickly and threw out the clothes that were in the way of her brush. She pulled the brush out and ran into the bathroom, stuck the brush in some water she caused to somehow come out of the bathtub, and brushed her hair quickly to tame the bed-head that was sticking up at odd angles.

It didn't look the best, but it was OK. She didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. She rushed out of the bathroom and grabbed her backpack off the couch. She put the pack on one shoulder. As soon as she was about to leave, she remembered the ocarina in her pants pockets from yesterday. She ran around the room, looking for her pants from yesterday. She cried out in frustration, and threw all the blankets on the floor onto the bed. She found her pants on the floor under the blankets and hurriedly kneeled down to feel inside the pockets. She fumbled with the clasp of her pack and stuffed all the things from her pockets in it. When that was done, she ran out the room. She caught one last glimpse of a clock before getting into the hallway. It read 9:32.

"Crap!" she said. She threw the door to her room open and closed it behind her, when she realized that there was no one around. And she didn't know how to get out of the stupid castle. Or how to get anywhere, except the kitchen and Zelda's room.

"No!" she cried. She looked one way, then another. She was pretty sure she came from one direction…or was it that one?

She chose one and ran down that hall. But where did she go now? She moaned loudly.

"Meghan?" She heard. It was a male's voice. Luke.

"Oh, god Luke! Um…can you show me out of the castle?"

"Of course. I was just going to see Zelda, but this won't take long." Today he had a blue shirt on.

"Luke, I'm in a hurry, is there any way we could…um, go fast?"

"Well, would you like to run? Can't help you with much magic, though, if you expect me to. I'm a mess when it comes to that. In fact I can't do any."

"OK…I just need to be in Hyrule Castle Town at like, _now_."

"Alright, let's go this way then!" He turned one way. She followed him and they ran down the hall. They turned this way and that. Soon they were outside.

"There you go."

"Thank you so much! I've gotta go." She waved and ran as fast as she could.

She didn't get far. "Trespassing again, I see." Meghan wanted to bang her head on a wall.

"Shut. Up," she said and ran forward. General Shina walked in front of her.

"In a hurry? You're not going anywhere." She moved to the side to run around him, but he moved too. She clenched her fists and said through gritted teeth.

"Please move. I have to go. Now."

"No." he said tauntingly. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't. "I'm afraid I'll have to take you in, for trespassing."

"Eeerrrr! I live here!" she groaned. She balled up her fist and punched him in the face. When his head turned to the side from the blow, she brought her foot up and kicked him…you know where. Then she kinda spazzed, not really believing she'd just done that.

"Aah!…" he said, wheezing as he bent over.

"And you deserved every last bit of pain," she spat. She ran past him, shaking her hand out. It hurts to punch someone…

She reached the town, huffing and puffing and thinking of all the complaining she was going to do to Link, wondering if she'd get in trouble for that, and then saw Link looking the other direction. He turned his head toward her.

"There you are! I was beginning to get worried."

"Hi," she said insipidly. Her foot felt contaminated.

"What's up?" he asked with concern in his tone.

"Nothing."

He stared at her critically, in the way he often did. Then he laughed with humor. "Now my suspicions are confirmed. I know something's wrong."

"I don't like this. I don't want to be so far away! You know what time I woke up this morning? Seven minutes before I had to come here! And then I got lost in that darn castle, and it wasn't until I was _escorted_ out that I actually got out, and then I ran into that freak _Shina_ guy, who is a complete idiot, moron, imbecile, butthead and jerk, and I had to actually _attack_ him before I got here, I _attacked_ him, Link, which wasted another minute of my time, and _those damn birds wouldn't shut up this morning_!"

_Hmm…when was the last time I've seen her this angry? Um never. _She wasn't an angry person, far as he could tell, even though she had the right to be.

"And you're going to let that get in the way of our day?" he asked innocently, tilting his head.

"No," she said, defeated, "it was just annoying. I wish to kill Shina, that I do." She stared off into the distance.

"OK. But not right now, OK?" He figured he should just go along…to avoid any sudden outbursts…or any long-term arguments… "Maybe tomorrow." He smiled.

"Yes, yes. Tomorrow sounds good…" she said, taking on a devious tone and facial expression. "He shall suffer. And Zelda wouldn't be disappointed either."

"So who is this Shina person?" he asked as they walked out of the town. He was angry _himself_ that this guy was causing problems for Meghan, and Zelda. He'd have to talk to him.

"He is the supposed general of Zelda's guards, but he doesn't seem to even know what a sword is. He didn't seem like he knew how to fight either. I punched him _and_ kicked him and he didn't even try to block or dodge or anything. And _I'm_ a _terrible_ fighter. Zelda said that he was the general when her father was in command, but she also believes that he was one of Ganondorf's minions. So she wants to replace him with the spymaster, Luke. He is really awful. I don't like him. I don't think he likes me either. He kept telling me I was trespassing. But I 'live' there, now," she said, using air quotes.

"Really..." _This Shina man is getting to seem quite annoying and unwanted in Meghan's life._ "I'll have to talk to him."

"Wait, no. I _know_ he doesn't like me. He hates me, and by the way, where are we going?"

"Lon Lon Ranch."

"Really? Why? I mean, What for? I mean…"

"You'll see." So he listened as Meghan complained as they walked toward the ranch.

"And then the stupid birds wouldn't shut up!"

"You said that one already."

"Oh, yeah. Well, then I got lost in the stupid castle…"

"Said that one too."

"Oh, I'm all out of complaints then." She smiled, feeling much better.

"Oh, good."

"Goody goody!" Meghan said, back in good spirits once her rants were dried up. She was so glad she could complain to him, and not even feel bad about it. He really didn't seem to mind. They were right near the ranch. "So why are we here again?"

"Malon has a few new horses. I just thought you'd like to ride one for the day."

"Ride one? What about Epona?"

"She's _my_ horse."

"Insert a hiss and you would have sounded like a cat." There was silence. He turned his head to her. "Just a random thought floating in my head."

"Alright..." He was confused. Sometimes Meghan could be in her own little world…

"There she is." Malon waved to them from where she was, in front of the paddock.

"Hi, Malon," Link said cheerfully. Like many of the people he'd been friends with as a child, he was always happy to see Malon.

"Hi! Link, Meghan! Welcome!" She ran to them. "I'm so glad you are here! Mr. Ingo, would you help me?"

"Doing what, may I ask?" he said, smiling. Ingo was _very_ ugly. He was growing fat and his face was uuuugglllyy. Dirty, ruddy looking. His clothes were stained and misfitting. But his demeanor had changed. There seemed to be not a mean bone in his body now, and Meghan figured that was the only reason Malon would put up with him.

"I need help gathering the horses to show."

"Of course."

"Could you get the ones from in the stables? And could you bring them to the paddock?"

"Of course, Miss Malon."

"Thank you! Now, Meghan I assume Link has told you?"

"Very vaguely, yes."

"Well, Link. That won't do! Come on, I'll explain. Today you will do what we Hylian horse people call a horse search."

"Uh…"

"Just go with it. It sounds professional," she whispered mischievously. Malon seemed like a joyous person.

"OK."

"You can look through all the horses we have and pick out one that you'd like to borrow for the day."

"O…K…"

"Come on. Oh, thank you Mr. Ingo." He walked into the paddock with a horse's lead rope in each hand, each attached to a horse. "There are still a few more, but you may begin looking if you would like. If you need any background or references, feel free to ask." Meghan looked at the horses. Some were eating, some were walking around, some were playing…

She went over to a pretty horse. It looked at her and continued eating. Another one, that was a gray colored appaloosa, she walked over to tried to lick her hands.

"That's Remmy. He's a little mouthy."

"Yeah, I see that…" She went to another horse. This one ran away from her. At this point, Mr. Ingo came back with two more horses. One on his left seemed not to like him. As soon as he let it in the paddock, it ran to the other side. That one was very pretty. It seemed young. Meghan walked over to it.

"Hello," she said. It looked at her. "Malon, do you have carrots or something?"

"Of course." She pulled some out from a pouch on her dress and handed two to Meghan.

"Hello. What's your name?" This horse reminded her of a horse she knew on earth, named Galaxy. They looked the same too. They were about the same size and the same color. She broke one of the carrots and held out her hand so it would take it. It sniffed it, and hesitantly grabbed it.

"This one is a young boy we have not named yet."

"Can you ride him?"

"Yes, but he's shy. Not shy like Epona, by any means, but he…well, don't let Mr. Ingo know I told you, but he was broken the hard way when Mr. Ingo was in charge. Since then, he's wary of most people. I've gained his trust, but he doesn't like many people."

"I knew a horse just like him on earth. Only the reason that horse was shy was because they had just moved their horses to a new stable. He wasn't happy at the new place and didn't eat much. But I loved him at first sight, he was pretty. Much older though. I think he was in his teens, maybe twenties. I really fell in love with him and wanted to ride him. But the lady there said he wasn't the best to ride the first time. So I got stuck with the most stubborn and biggest horse at the place the first time I rode. I never got to ride him. But I still groomed him and cleaned his stall, and fed him."

"Really?"

"Yes. He reminds me of him. His name was Galaxy." Meghan remembered Galaxy's eyes. She didn't know if this was why the called him that, but they were a beautiful blue and when you looked in them, they were like an endless galaxy, full of stars. She looked into this horse's eyes. She saw a similar thing.

"Do you like him? He seems to like you."

"Yes." Meghan laughed. "I remember one time when my mom went into Galaxy's stall to brush him, all loud and like, 'Hi Galaxy!' and he freaked out. So I went in and had to groom him."

"That's funny," Malon said, smiling a warm smile. "Yes, you need to be quiet when you go into a stall. Otherwise you could get cornered and that's not at all pleasant."

"No," she laughed. She could definitely see her mom doing that…her mom had been clueless around horses. When Meghan was home, she had volunteered at a horse farm that helped kids with disabilities. They would ride the horses for therapy. Her mom had volunteered also, really for the kids, since she was a special education teacher, but Meghan loved it for the horses slightly more than the kids. She loved going in the horses' stalls and talking to them. Something about them was just so relaxing. She definitely felt so at ease around Epona too, with whom she had spent a lot of time with since coming to Hyrule.

"So this one is your choice?" Malon asked, moving forward to give Galaxy an affectionate rub.

"I like him," she said, though she wondered if it was a good choice. She liked all the horses.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Would you like to name him?" Malon had a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, me? I'd never have a good name!" And she definitely couldn't do it on the spot!

"Who was your favorite horse from your home?"

"Galaxy."

"Perfect!"

"Is that an OK name for him?" she asked, surprised that Malon would just take that one.

"Yes, of course!"

"Galaxy..." she said thoughtfully. "Hi. How old is he?"

"He is almost four."

"He went four years without a name?"

"Yes, well…most of that time was spent with Mr. Ingo in charge." She sighed. "Take good care of him today, Meghan. I'll retrieve his saddle. His halter is on the gate, if you'll get that."

"Sure." Meghan walked to the gate where Malon pointed and grabbed the halter and lead rope. The lead rope was white, and the halter was dark brown. Malon went into the tack room to get the bridle and saddle. She came back with a dark brown saddle and a red and gold colored saddle blanket. The bridle matched the saddle.

"Do you know how to put it on?"

"Yes. It's been a while though. I should be able to, though." She took the saddle from Malon and put it on Galaxy. She pulled it up to the withers and strapped the girth on the left side, and pulled it on tight. She went to the other side and pulled it tight there too. She fixed the saddle, and then pulled the girth tighter. "Only thing, Malon, I never used a breastplate when I rode because we never jumped or anything. How do you put that part on?"

"Oh, here. Watch." She took it and attached part of it to the saddle and part to the girth.

"OK, I get it." She took the bridle, removed the halter, and attempted to fit the bit in Galaxy's mouth, but he spit it out. "Galaxy, stay still." He backed up. "Ah, hold on!" She fumbled with it for a bit and finally fit it in his mouth. "Good boy." He snorted. "He doesn't like it..."

"You don't have to put it on." Malon reached forward and fumbled with the bit, popping it out of place. Meghan smiled.

"OK."

"He certainly gives you enough work." Malon said, and patted him. "But we love him."

"He's so cute!" Meghan stood back and observed her temporary horse. He was a beautiful darker brown color, and the saddle matched his color. He had a white snip on his face, and had white mid-cannon on his hind legs. He was shorter than Epona, yet still tall and majestic. Perfect for Meghan. She loved him.

"Are you ready?" Link broke her out of her little admiration reverie. He had disappeared for a while to find Epona.

"Yeah."

"Have fun!" Malon said. Link walked to her and handed her a purple rupee. "Link! I refuse to accept this!"

"No, take it. Please."

"Wait, I will pay!" Meghan said, fumbling for her backpack to find her small amount of money.

"No, Meghan," he said firmly and finally. Meghan's eyes opened wide.

"Link…I don't want it," she said, giving it back.

"Please…Malon…take it." Although Meghan didn't notice it, he was trying to tell Malon that he would take it back later so Meghan would seem convinced...of something she couldn't know right now.

"Alright…" she said, slipping it into her dress's pouch carefully.

"Meghan, you ready?" he asked.

"Yes. Come on Galaxy, I'm going to be your tour guide and hostess. Please put your saddle in its upright position so we may get out of here. Thank you Malon, for allowing the borrow."

"Of course. Any time." _Saddle in its upright position…?_

"Bye bye!"

"Bye Malon," Link said, leading Epona out of the ranch. Meghan took Galaxy's reins and led him as well. When they were out of the ranch, Meghan squealed in delight.

"Link I LOVE HIM! Look! LOOK! Don't you see his beautiful face? He's SO CUTE! THANK YOU THANK YOU! LOOK AT HIS BEAUTY! THANK YOU!" She giggled loudly. "I'm going to have to borrow him again!"

"You're wel—" But his words were replaced by choking sounds as Meghan hugged him tightly. "Can't…breathe…" he joked.

"Oops, sorry!"

"That's OK." He smirked.

"I can't _wait_ to ride him! Wait, how do I even know that he'll let me?"

"He will. Don't worry. Malon only let out the ones that were ride-able."

"Are you sure?"

"Why don't you try?"

"OK. Galaxy, I'm going to ride you now." She walked over to his side and put her foot in his stirrup. She leaned on him. "Are you OK with me?" He snorted. "You must be just as smart as Epona. Do you mind if I ride you?" He didn't do anything. "Well…"

"Maybe he speaks Hylian. Malon probably talks to them in it."

"Oh, you're right. How do you say, 'do you mind if I ride you?'"

"Do you mind if I ride you?" he said slowly in Hylian. Meghan copied him, with certain mistakes. Galaxy snorted and shook his head.

"Good boy!" she said in Hylian. She knew that much. "You need to learn English." He shook his head. "You know English?"

"It's funny, we always refer to your English as Terminian here...I wonder how it ever came about."

"Yeah, it is kinda weird. Come on Galaxy. I'm going to ride you now." She went over to him and pulled herself on him. He seemed not too tense. "Good boy. So, which language do you know? English or Hylian? Do you by any chance know any French?" He nickered. "What?" He did again.

"Maybe you should ask him one by one." Link said as he mounted his own horse.

"OK. Galaxy, do you know English?" He nodded his head up and down. "Then why did you not respond before?" He nickered. Link laughed.

"I guess he was stubborn, like someone I know."

"Hey!"

"Yes, of course. You are royalty now that you live in that castle. I must obey you. I must be nice to you." He gave her a quick smirk before hoisting himself up onto Epona.

"Shut up!" she said, feeling bad.

"No," he said tauntingly.

"Ahhhrrg!" She pushed Galaxy forward. He had a different feel than Epona. Epona was more…different. Epona was a girl! Sure, that was the reason. She wasn't an expert. Meghan pushed him into a trot.

"Is he…uh, good to ride, I guess?" Link asked when he caught up to her on Epona.

"Yes, I like him. His gait is smooth and…he's cute!"

"Good," was all Link said. _No, perfect._

"Galaxy, can you go faster?" _She really seems to like him._ Galaxy snorted and cantered. "Yay!" She said.

"Do you want to…honorably…race?"

"Now that wouldn't be very fair. I'm just learning about him."

"It wasn't fair yesterday."

"Yeah, but Link, you could never cheat," she said innocently, smiling and blinking at him.

"Yeah, so?" he challenged.

"You never could," she said haughtily, knowing she was right.

He only smiled. "OK, then let's just get used to him."

"All right."

Link and Meghan both cantered around the field. When they had reached Gerudo Valley some time later, Link asked, "Are you used to him yet?"

"You're really eager to race me, aren't you?"

"Well, I'd like to see how fast she is compared to other horses."

"Link, you _know_ she's the fastest horse, I'd bet the _fastest_ in Hyrule. That's two things that make it unfair!"

"Yes…well…I'll still race you!"

"No! Oh fine."

"You change your mind too much."

"I don't care!"

"OK."

"We need a starting point. And a finishing point."

"Hm…how about…" he swung himself off Epona and pulled out his sword. He made a line on the floor. "This line." He grinned.

"OK…" she said and brought Galaxy to it. Link mounted Epona again and brought her to the line. "Link, before we start, I just want to say we are the weirdest group of mixed genders and species that ever lived."

"I agree with that. Navi, can you be our judge?"

"Referee!" Meghan said.

"Um…what would that be?" Navi asked shyly.

"Oh, it's like a judge, someone who…is sorta like the decider of who wins, and in this case, when to start, and stuff like that."

"Oh." Link and Navi said at the same time.

"Good. So when we are ready, you say start. Nice and loud."

"OK." Came the shy little squeak.

"Ready Navi?" Link asked.

"Yes."

"All right. Go ahead."

"Um…st-start!" she said so quietly that Meghan and Link didn't know what she said yet. Then Link caught on and pushed Epona forward.

"Hey!" Meghan said, and Galaxy was now moving forward as well. It took him a bit to get up to speed, but soon Galaxy was going at a fast canter. After a few minutes of silent, hard riding, Meghan called to Link (Who was slightly ahead and to the side of her)

"Link! We never said when or where we were going to stop!"

"Who said we were going to stop?"

"What are you talking about!" she yelled.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I could do this all day!"

"Eh…wouldn't your butt get numb?"

"No." He laughed. "What about you?"

"WHAT?"

"Hey, you just asked me the same question! Now you must answer!"

"Uh…maybe?" She laughed too. That was a really odd question she had asked, she had to admit. But then again…

…wasn't everything odd these days?

"So where are we going to stop?" she called.

"Uh…Kokiri Forest?" She made a face, even though he wasn't looking at her.

"Where? Like—"

"The first one past the Kaepora tree wins."

"What's the Kaepora tree?" He looked back at her.

"The name I have for the tree where Kaepora came, right there. You know, the one…do you get it?"

"Yeah, I think."

"Do you get it Navi?"

"Yes, my little Kokiri!" she squealed over the sound of the horse's footfalls.

"I am not a Kokiri," he said, laughing in a carefree way.

"Yet you seem so attached to the forest! I think you're a Kokiri by heart," Meghan said.

"Maybe."

"I think so. Why would he have such a fantabulous fairy if wasn-"

"Go be a…whatever that thing was," Link said as he pushed Navi forward. He looked at Meghan, who smiled.

"Navi, go to the Kaepora Tree and wait. The first to cross wins. OK?" Meghan shouted.

"Right!" Navi beamed and flew quickly ahead of them. Meghan felt so good, just riding like that. She felt like doing something dangerous…

"Link!"

"Yes?" He said.

"I'm gonna beat you!" She said, changing Galaxy's canter into a gallop. "Galaxy and I will beat the _snot_ out of you!"

"Snot…right."

"Evil snot!" she yelled as she caught up to him. They were riding side by side now, with a foot or two in between them. "I'm going to win."

"Win two days in a row? That wouldn't be fair!"

"Life isn't fair. We've learned that the hard way!"

"Yes. I'm still going to win!"

"No, evil Mr. Hylian! I will win! Do not forget, I am the Ruler of the World!"

"We'll see about that," he said. "Epona is still not going as fast as she can."

"I'd be willing to bet Galaxy isn't either."

"We'll see about that. How much do you want to bet?"

"Galaxy."

"What?"

"Heh heh, if you win, you get Galaxy and I get Epona. If _I_ win, I get Galaxy and you get Epona."

"What? What was that supposed to mean? I'm not giving you Epona!"

"And I'm not giving you Galaxy. So I have to win if you want to keep your own horse. And you're not going to win. I'M GOING TO HIJACK EPONA!"

"What? Where do you come up with these things?" Meghan was already standing on the stirrups, her butt lifted off the saddle. And this was not easy.

"Yes, haha!"

Link looked at her. "Hey, be careful! You're going to fall off at that speed."

"But this is fun!" Her hair was flying in her face and everywhere else. "You're right; I _could_ do this all day!" she said as she sat her butt back down. They were about halfway there. They rode in silence about a quarter of the way, when Meghan said, "Link…we never said what we were going to win if we win!"

"We win Navi!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"OK! Don't tell her though! She's going to be my fairy!"

"Don't count on it. Even if you do win, she won't listen to _you_."

"Pssh, yeah she will! She already likes me!"

"I don't know."

"How about…" She thought for a while, while feeling the bounciness of Galaxy's galloping. "Oh! Oh! I know!"

"What?"

"Nothing! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"OK…"

"Yes! It's perfect!"

"Yeah."

"You seem disappointed!"

"I just thought I'd be able to win something." Meghan turned her head towards him.

"You're not that greedy."

"Yeah. I am." He grinned.

"No. You're not."

"Yes. I am."

"Alright, Mr. Hylian. If you win, I'll give you my sanity." He looked like he was going to laugh. She realized the significance, or insignificance I should say, of what she'd said. "That's not much, I guess."

"Exactly what I was about to say."

"OK. What do you _really_ want if you win? What do you _deeply desire? _That I can give you, of course?" Meghan was getting tired of yelling towards him. It was hard to speak over the galloping.

Link thought about what he wanted. The question was too perfect, coming from her. He could give too many answers. He wanted so much. But he could never ask anything of her, like that anyway. He could never tell her exactly what it was that he wanted from her because in the end, it probably wouldn't matter. It wouldn't get them anywhere.

"We'll worry about that when we find out who wins," was his too-solemn answer. They were almost there. Meghan could see sweat forming on Galaxy's neck. There was about ten more yards…nine…eight…Meghan pushed Galaxy faster…yet Epona seemed to be fastest no matter what she did.

"Come on, Galaxy, come on…not much farther now…come on…if you can just go a bit faster…please…" she begged Galaxy. He went all out, and Meghan was riding as hard as she could. Link and Epona always seemed to be better, though. She doubted Galaxy wasn't fast enough though. She simply didn't have enough experience riding.

They were in the last few yards. Link and Epona went slightly ahead of Meghan and Galaxy.

The next thing she knew, Link had crossed the tree just before her. But because the area was so small, Galaxy couldn't fit side by side with Meghan. He had to make a fast stop. Link quickly realized this and tried moved Epona so Galaxy could have room. They were so close to colliding Meghan squeezed her eyes shut and braced for what was to happen.

Galaxy's hooves slid on the floor as he tried to stop. Meghan held on to the reins tight, knowing she couldn't do much. Epona whinnied and reared, as did Galaxy. Meghan opened her eyes, as she couldn't hold on to Galaxy anymore. She slid off. "Oomf…" Her eyes were closed as she winced in pain for a second.

"Epona! Whoa! It's OK." She heard Link's voice and opened her eyes, blinking. She pulled herself against the Kaepora Tree. She felt hot, moist air on her forehead.

"Ick…Galaxy?"


	21. Remix: Day V Part II: Like Royalty

**OMG I SWEAR TO GODDESS NAYRU, I LOVE HYRULE HISTORIA BUT IT'S VERY MUCH MESSING WITH MY LIFE. Ugh and I guess I shoulda noticed this but I didn't. Did you know that the Gerudo have their own alphabet? Different characters? Which means I have to rewrite that section of the Spirit Temple. Does that mean Link can understand the Gerudo writing or what? Because clearly he reads the sign in the Spirit Temple. UGH! This is so frustrating! Maybe I should give up trying to make this accurate as possible. Because obviously it already strays quite far from the plot. *mindmelting* XD**

* * *

"No! Galaxy!" Link grabbed Galaxy's reins, while trying to keep Epona under control. "Meghan, are you all right? You fell pretty hard," he asked, his back to her while trying to keep two horses under control. He turned and put his hand on her arm, inspecting her slightly.

"Ow…yeah. I'm fine," she said as she got up. Her back hurt. "Stinky." She hurried over stiffly and got Galaxy.

"Are you sure?" he said, not letting go of the horse.

"Yeah. I just fell."

"Meghan…" he started

"Yeah?"

He sighed an annoyed sigh. She was hiding the fact that she was hurt. Again. He was never going to forgive himself for letting her get hurt so much. He should have been smarter.

"Are the horses OK?"

"Galaxy is, Epona is a bit tense though."

"Poor babies, did they collide?"

"A little. Galaxy hit Epona in the nose when he came down from rearing. And then I realized you fell off, so I had to get off too. I took Galaxy and moved him away from you, and then Epona. And then I was going to move you but they started going crazy again, so I had no choice. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just leave you there."

"'Tsokay," she said, stretching to the sides.

"Are you sure you are all right?"

"My back hurts, but that's it."

He looked at her worriedly. "Meghan, that's not a little thing."

"What? It's not like it's broken. I can move. See?" She spun around in a(n achy) circle. "I'm not broken."

"Hn," he said, like he was annoyed. "Fine." He handed Galaxy's reins to her. She took a look at Epona. He turned away just for a second, trying not to lose it. He just wanted to heal her, _hold her_ and make it ok. WAIT NO DON'T THINK THAT.

"Switch for a second," she said, jamming Galaxy's reins into his hands and taking Epona's from him. She put her hands on Epona's neck and felt how tense she was. There was a small scrape on her nose. "It's OK, Epona baby. I'm sorry," she said very gently. She began rubbing Epona in small circles with her fingers. She could feel the tension melt away.

"What are you doing?" Link asked, as Epona rested her heavy head on Meghan's shoulder.

"T-touch. She likes it."

"Interesting."

"Yes, I learned this back home. The horses love it."

"That's…fascinating." Meghan felt Epona turn her head slightly to look at Link with her huge, beautiful eyes. Meghan moved her fingers over Epona's neck to her body. After a few minutes, she was done. She removed Epona's large head and turned to Link

"You should really take longer to do it, but since we're just going to go again, I didn't."

"Whoa, you have to teach me to do that."

"Of course I will! For once I can teach _you_ to do something!"

"You teach me things every day."

She laughed. "Here, I'll show you. Stand like this…" She stood in front of Epona. "Do it on Galaxy."

"OK." He moved in front of Galaxy.

"Put your hands like this." She put one hand on Epona's neck.

"OK." He did too.

"Put your fingers like this."

"OK."

"And move in little circles." Link watched for a second, and then tried to copy her. "Right. Yay, you're a fast learner!"

"Uh, thanks I think." Since he was left handed, and the horses were side by side, Meghan could watch Link's hand as he moved it over Galaxy's neck. Galaxy's head drooped.

"He likes it," she said quietly. Epona turned her head towards Link. She stepped over to him and sniffed his head.

"Epona!" he said affectionately.

"She's jealous!"

"Jealous?" he asked, looking into the eyes of his horse. Meghan could see how the two connected. They really were a great team.

"Switch horses again."

"OK…" The switched. Epona took complete advantage of the situation. Link was inspecting the cut on Epona's nose. It seemed to be fine. Once Meghan started massaging Galaxy, Epona nudged Link, clearly telling him to do it to her. "All right! All right!" He laughed. "You're spoiled."

Meghan laughed. She went to Galaxy and started rubbing him. "Ick, you're so sweaty! I need something I can wipe him off with."

"Here." Link threw Meghan a cloth from his saddle-baggy thing.

"Oh, thanks," she said, and wiped some of the sweat off of Galaxy's neck and body. "Good boy, Galaxy." After a few silent moments of tending to the horses, they decided to leave. Meghan moved to Galaxy's side and tried to mount. But when she sat, her tailbone hurt.

"Ow!" She said, moving her right leg to the other side with the left. "Shi-"

"Are you OK?" Link asked as he got on Epona.

"My butt…" she said quietly.

"What?" he said.

"My _ass_ hurts!"

"Ass?"

She laughed, realizing she probably hadn't said the word before.

"It means...butt."

"Oh," he laughed. "I knew that. OK…would it be better if we walked?"

"Um, yeah if you don't mind. Either that or I need a big, fluffy pillow for my butt."

He laughed again. "Sorry, I don't have any big, fluffy pillows."

"That's OK. Walking is fine with me!"

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. I just can't sit."

"All right..."

_Aiya, what a problem_. "So where are we going now?"

"I was thinking Kakariko Village. There is a lot to do there."

"OK." They started walking there, Meghan leading Galaxy by the reins, and Link leading Epona.

"Impa."

"What?"

"We're going to see Impa today!"

"Did you just figure that out?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Interesting."

They talked about some things until they reached Kakariko. Meghan left Galaxy before the stairs. "Do you think he'll run away?"

"No, he'll probably stay."

"I wish he had a song like Epona. Hey Galaxy!" She walked up to his face. "Can you wait here for me? I'll come back later to bring you back home." Galaxy snorted. "Is that a yes?" Galaxy snorted again. Link nodded. "OK. See you later!" She ran up the stairs with Link.

"So what do you want to do first?" Link asked.

"Uh…what is there to do?"

(AN-There is this beautiful Kakariko Village track on the orchestrated CD that came with Skyward Sword—you must listen to it while reading this section! It's so cute! :D maybe look it up on youtube if you don't have the CD!)

"A lot. I guess we haven't really come here. So OK, I'll point things out. Hm, over there is the bow game, and then there are…places to shop. Just a lot. We can see as we go around." Meghan hadn't really been to hang out in Kakariko Village. She had only passed through it. And now she realized that this place was much bigger than she had thought.

"Let's do the bow thingy!"

"Alright." They ran over to the bow place. The guy inside was scary…and not to mention huge.

"You guys wanna play? Twenty rupees."

"Yes, please," Link said, taking out twenty rupees.

"Thank you. You know the rules?"

"Yes."

"All right, go ahead."

"Do you want to go first, Meghan?"

"No! I want to watch you do it first."

"OK." He took out his bow, which Meghan just now realized he had with him (where dat come from!). He took the arrows he got from the guy, and set up in front of the game.

"Ready?" the dude asked. Link nodded.

"Go!" A green rupee flew up in the middle. Link hit it before it went back down. It shattered. OK, so it wasn't a rupee. Two red rupees came by on the top, and Link shot one, then the other in succession. Two blue rupees on the bottom came and he hit them both as well. Then two more came, first one (hit) then the other (hit). There were only the two red rupees and the green one left. Link cocked the arrow on the string, pulling it and waiting for one to come up. Then all of a sudden, all three came up at the same time.

"What?" he said in surprise. He grabbed another arrow and jammed it on the string with the other and shot the two red ones.

"Whoa!" Meghan said. Now that was _awesome_. Just one more. He grabbed another arrow quickly and shot the green rupee just as it went down.

"Heh, sorry 'bout that," the guy said. But he actually did it purposely. He was tired of Link coming in and winning each time! He didn't want him to win. He always gave him more rupees than he got paid!

"Oh wow! That was awesome!" Meghan said.

"Thank you."

"Here's your prize, mate."

"Shiny," Meghan said, looking at the purple rupee.

"Wait. Keep it. I'll buy three more games." He took out ten rupees and gave them to the dude. He was shocked, but whatever.

"Alright."

"Now, your turn!" Link said. Meghan cautiously took the bow…

She stood where Link stood before. She took the arrows…

"What do I do?"

"Shoot the rupees!"

"I'm scared."

"What? I taught you how to use the bow! Wait, you even fought some evil with the bow! What are you talking about, 'I'm scared?'" He smiled.

"I don't remember!"

"You don't remember what? How to use the bow, or what you were going to say?"

"HA. HA. Very funny."

"Are you guys ready?" the guy asked. Meghan shook her head.

"Relax. Yes, we're ready," Link responded for her.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Nooo!"

"Make up your minds!" the guy yelled, cheerfully but still a tad impatiently.

"Uh…yeah, I'm ready. Help?"

"All right, here you go," the dude said, grumbling to himself. Meghan put an arrow on the string and… "Go!"

"Oh goddesses!" she said when the first thing came up. It was a blue one on the side. She pulled the arrow back and released it. It missed.

"That's OK, hit the other one!" Link said, pointing. She didn't even realize the other one had come up.

"I'm trying…" She pulled it back and released again, missing. "You make it look so easy!" she whined. He pointed to the red one coming by. She hit it! "Yay!" the other red one she missed. "Boo!" a green one came. She hit it. "Yay!" The other green one. "Boo!" The two blue ones. She hit the first one…but the second… "Booooo!" And now the second set of reds…"YAY! Boo. Yay!"

"You got four out of ten," the guy said.

"Do you want to try again?" Link asked.

"OK." She got ready. She hit three reds, one blue, and one green. "Five out of ten. Yay," she said sarcastically, though she thought it was just luck anyway.

"That's pretty good! I remember as a kid, I couldn't get that many with the slingshot…"

"Slingshot!" she yelled.

"Yes, the slingshot," he said slowly.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Gimme the slingshot! Maybe I'll do better!"

"I don't have it!"

"Liar!"

"I don't!"

"Are you guys going to go or not?" the shopkeeper asked again.

"Link, it's your turn."

"Are you sure you don't want to go again?"

"Yes. Positive. Go."

"OK…" He took the bow and hit all the rupees. What a damn _surprise_.

"Great job!" she cried.

"Thanks."

"Grumble, here's your prize. Grumble grumble."

"I can't have this many rupees. Here, I don't want it." He gave it back to the dude. "Thank you, good bye. Come on Meghan; let's do something else."

"'K!" she said as they skipped out.

The guy stared at them as they left.

"He didn't _take_ it?"

* * *

"So what are we going to do?" Meghan asked as she skipped next to Link.

"Let's see."

"Shopping! I hate shopping! Blech."

"OK, I never said that..."

"No, I just remembered because of the potion shop."

"So…you really hate it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason."

He looked at her with an innocent smile on his face.

OK, creepy. "What the heck are you thinking?"

"Your birthday is soon. What do you want?"

"Link, I'm not going to be here." She stopped walking.

"Well, whoever said that?" He continued walking. His heart was sinking as he tried to keep up a cheerful demeanor. _Why_ did she have to say that? _Why_?

"No one, but it's pretty obvious."

"No, it's _not_," he said, finally stopping a few feet away from her. He stared at her.

"Why are you so optimistic?" she asked. "You know the chances are slim too."

"Meghan, I am inherently optimistic," he somewhat lied. "We'll just celebrate your birthday tomorrow."

"I don't want a stinky birthday celebration or anything. I stopped have parties when I was twelve. I'm not going to have one for sixteen."

"Oh, but…"

"No. N. O. No!"

"Fine. I give up. No party. But you still need a gift!"

"No," she whined.

"Yes. Come on. Please?" He made a puppy dog face. Who knew he could?

The cuteness…was…too…_strong_! She couldn't take it! She gave in.

"Whatever."

"Yes! Come on!" He grabbed her hand and brought her to…the freaky bazaar. That guy freaked her out…but she was too busy noticing the feeling of his hand wrapped haphazardly around her own.

When they entered, Link asked, "Have you been in here before?"

"Uh…n-not really…" she said. The freaky shopkeeper was looking at her, one eye way larger than the other. She looked away. This place was _huge_! "Wow, it's certainly different than how I thought it was." It was much longer, more like a real bazaar like the ones she'd been to in Turkey. It was long, and it looked like it went underground or something. "This is scary!"

"Don't be scared!" he exclaimed, laughing. He didn't let go of her hand. Did he even realize what he was doing? "Just a bunch of harmless merchants."

"But it's dark!" she said feebly.

"No it's not! It's just dim."

"_You're_ dim! I don't wanna go in!" She then gasped, realizing she might have been heard. "I mean, I don't want anything."

"Oh, come on!" His hand squeezed hers tighter, and her heart beat irregularly. Did he _realize_ what he was doing? What kind of ploy _was_ this? Arglealdkfjasdf!

"No, Mr. Courage! I don't wanna!"

"Don't make me drag you in."

"_You can't_!" she whispered, wishing to tug at her hand a bit but not wanting…to chance him letting go.

_What are you doooiiinngggg, you are hand-seducing meeee._

"No, but I can carry you." He flashed a white, toothy smile. _Oh, the thought._

Her stomach flipped. He would see how heavy she was again! He would think she was fat! But he wouldn't hesitate to do it! "No! I'm going!" She pulled from his hand. She ran. Link laughed and followed her. That definitely got her.

They passed many little booth things, each with things to buy. One shop specialized in weapons, another in clothing, and another in jewelry, another with…things, another with purses and such, and another with more things.

They stopped at a nice little one with accessories…

"Do you want something here?" Link asked hopefully.

"No," she said brusquely, pretending to be uninterested and looking around elsewhere.

"Goddesses, don't you want anything?" he asked seriously, disappointed.

"No. I am just window shopping."

"But there's no window!" he joked, knowing it was one of her expressions.

"Ex. Pre. Ssion."

"OK. Right then. Are you sure?"

"Yep." She looked at some necklaces. To tell the truth, she really _liked_ them, but she couldn't _ask_ for them. She saw one that she loved immediately. It had a silver chain, and a silver pendant. The pendant was a Hylian treble clef, and it had diamonds (though she didn't know if they were real or not) along it.

She almost touched it to examine it closer, when Link said, "Do you like it?"

"No! I d—"

"This necklace it made of silver, and genuine diamonds," the vendor lady, a crumply, elderly lady, said in Hylian.

"Hm, uh, what did she say?"

"Do you want me to speak Terminian?" she said in Hylian. Bad for Meghan, good for Link.

"Don't tell her you can," he said, smiling mischievously. Meghan looked.

"OK, I recognized 'her' in there and 'you' and 'can.'"

"That's because she doesn't speak Hylian, and I was clarifying that she couldn't."

"OK…" She didn't believe him.

"OK. I'll translate, right?"

"Uh…" She hated not knowing the language.

"Would you like to know how much it is?" the lady asked.

"What did she say?" Meghan asked impatiently.

"It is made of real silver and real diamonds," he said in English. "I would," he said in Hylian.

"What did you say?"

"I said 'is that true?'"

"It is eighty-nine rupees."

"Uh…" Meghan said.

"She said it was hand crafted," he said in English.

"No, she said numbers-"

"Ha ha, good guess. It actually was, young man."

"Well, that's good," Link said in Hylian. "The quality seems to be very good," he told the merchant.

"Are you going to buy it?" the lady asked.

"Not right now, she 'doesn't want it.' Definitely another time, it will be a surprise," he said in Hylian.

"All right, well it'll be here if you change your mind. Should I hold it for you?"

"That would be good. Thank you."

"I understood that! You said thank you!"

"Yes, I did. Ready to go?"

"What did she _say_?"

"She said-"

"I said have a nice day," the lady said.

"You speak…"

"Yes, I do." She winked at Meghan, chuckling a sweet old lady laugh.

"What? You made me…_what_? What did you _really_ say?" she cried out in frustration, though smiling. Laughing in disbelief.

"Thank you," Link said as he guided a pseudo-fuming Meghan away from the shop.

"Ugh! Why'd you do that! You knew she could!" She felt slightly betrayed and she hated how he took advantage of the fact that she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Hm…I felt like it. I don't speak Hylian too much anymore, since I'm always around you, so it was fun."

"Stop complaining. You're the one who neglects to teach me anymore than hi! And bye! And thank you!" She knew more than that, but her knowledge truly was rudimentary, nonetheless.

"But it's _fun_ knowing a language you don't," he continued to tease.

"You evil kid, have you forgotten that I know a language you don't too?"

"Yes, but no one else speaks that around here."

She felt defeated and angry. "_Parlez-vous francais_!" she yelled, not caring that it didn't make sense. Maybe it would sound like a curse word to him (because in truth she wasn't even fluent in French).

"Uh, what?"

"I'm not telling!" In reality, she only said, "do you speak French?" but he didn't know. He thought she said something more important. Plus, he could be doing the same thing to her, right? "Do you speak Hylian? Do you speak Hylian! Do you speak. Hylian! Do."

They walked around for a while more, stopping to admire, and "window shop." Link repeatedly asked her if she wanted anything for her birthday, but she said no each time. The truth was, though, that she really, really did want something. She wished he would get it anyway, but she couldn't just ask for it.

After a while, they decided to leave.

"Whoa! The light!" She shielded her eyes dramatically as they stepped outside. Link rolled his eyes.

"Come on, it wasn't that dark. Even after going in the Shadow Temple, Spirit Temple, I thought you wouldn't be afraid of a simple shop-"

"Yeah, whatever." Suddenly they heard a sound behind them. They swiftly turned around.

"It's Impa!" Meghan exclaimed. "Hi!"

"Hello," she said, nodding.

"Hello, Impa," Link said. Impa was taller than Link. Meghan found this odd, but she didn't care that much.

"Hello, Link. I come with a request from Princess Zelda. She invites the three of us to dine with her tonight."

"OK?" Meghan said, glancing at Link to make sure he thought it was OK. Zelda was _really_ trying hard, wasn't she?

"We would like to," he clarified.

"Good. Now, kindly see to it that you are at the castle in one hour. Have a good day." She stepped back, and as Meghan blinked, disappeared.

"Well, that was the shortest visit with a sage we had."

"We'll see her later..." he said, though he agreed.

"Why did she leave so suddenly?"

"Hmm…"

"Exactly. So, we're gonna see Zellie? I like calling her Zellie. Hm, Zellie, Zellie, Zellie…"

"Yes. We are going to see 'Zellie.' Are you happy about that?"

"Yep!" She smiled innocently. Link sighed. "I think we should get going to the castle. By the time we are there, and stuff, it'll be almost time to see her. Boy, Impa didn't give us too much info, now did she? I sure wish she had because I wish I knew _where_ we were going to meet Zelda or something and if we even are going to meet her or if we are going to go to her or something like that. She sure left us there and didn't give us all the info we-"

"OK! I get it, I do! Really, point taken." Meghan had been talking really fast, just to annoy him.

"A'ight, shall we leave?"

"Sure." They went to their horses they had left near the stairs. Galaxy was there, grazing, and Epona was a bit farther away, also eating. Meghan took Galaxy by the reins, pulled him away from his food, and walked him to the bridge, with Link following with Epona. "Let's bring him back first."

"Right." She didn't want to, but she had to. He wasn't her horse…

She sighed and walked heavily with Galaxy, remaining strangely quiet.

"You're sad, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'll visit him again." She brightened up, giving him her best "IM NOT SAD RLY" smile.

"Of course. We can tomorrow, if you want."

"Yes," she said, feeling a lump in her throat. How little time was left... "Galaxy, you're a really neat horse, you know that, right?" Galaxy snorted. When they reached the ranch, Meghan handed Galaxy to Malon.

"Did you have fun?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah! Thanks so much, Malon," she said, helping Malon remove Galaxy's tack.

"Any time," she said, smiling a large, infectious smile that made Meghan want to smile too. And she did. Meghan gave Galaxy a last rub, before leaving. Link left Epona at the ranch too.

"Bye Malon!" they said in unison, waving. They exited the ranch and left to the castle.

"Darn, Link. I hope that _idiot_ Shina doesn't show up."

"I'm sure he won't."

"I really hope not." They were entering the castle yard now. "No sight of him…" she said. "Come on, let's hurry. Only, I have no idea where we're going."

"Your idea must be better than mine."

"Possibly. This place is like a labyrinth. The only thing I have to steer me around is my intuition…and that says, 'where the heck do we go?'" Link laughed. "OK, OK, um…I _know_ we have to go in the castle."

"Good guess."

She ignored him. "And I remember the first turn to my room! But I don't remember anything else, and I have no idea where the throne room, or where Zelda is or anything! Aah!"

"It's OK. We'll find them." They walked across the garden into the castle. "Maybe if we find your room…"

"Yeah, but I have no idea where _that_ is!"

"Do you guys need help?" A familiar voice said. Just guess who it is. Go ahead, guess! No really, guess!

"Hi hi _hi_ Luke!"

"Hi there, Meghan!" his gaze shifted to Link. "And I take it you," he nodded to Link, "are the Hero of Time?"

"That's him all right!" Meghan said before he could respond.

"Splendid! Can I have your autograph?" Luke asked. Link just looked at him, a bit confused. "Meghan told me to say that!" he said, laughing. Meghan laughed hysterically at Link's expression.

"…Eh…" His eyes shifted to Meghan. The two were similar, with their random humor, and she seemed so happy to see him. _He wondered…_

"No, just kidding. My name is Luke, and it's fantastic to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Link said in Hylian.

Luke nodded. "Well, since you guys are here, I may as well tell you!" He sounded very excited.

"What?" Meghan asked eagerly. Luke took in a deep breath.

"Not so fast," Zelda said. Meghan looked behind Luke. Zelda was standing there with a big grin on her face. She grabbed Luke by the ear. "I want to tell as well," she said in a seductive, purring voice. Gosh, she wouldn't even have to _try_ to have this guy's arms around her.

"Hi, Zelda!" Meghan said.

"Hello, you two. Luke is being bad today."

"Not entirely true, my princess!" She squeezed his ear. "Ow…" He recoiled and Zelda's grin grew, though she still didn't let go. "No really, I haven't!"

"And what have you done, of notable stature, today?"

"I helped Meghan out of the castle today! And she was in a hurry, so it was a good thing, too." He nodded self righteously.

"A good thing, yes. Yes, all right. You are free to go." She let go. He rubbed his ear playfully. Link observed them carefully. He seemed to like Zelda... "So, Luke didn't spill anything to you, did he?"

"No…" Meghan said. Link seemed…oh, he just seemed like...silent.

"Well, that's good. I didn't want him to."

"Link, Miss Zelda…ow…wanted me to show something, I don't know why but…ow…it would be best for my ear if you came along…Link…" He nodded. Luke turned around and Link followed him, sending a questioning gaze back at Meghan. She shrugged, making a face.

"What is it Zelda?" Meghan asked as Zelda sighed.

"Oh, nothing! Come on, I must tell you something. First, as you already know, I am inviting you to dine with Luke, Impa and I. Secondly; I think you guys should get to know Luke, which is why I sent him off with Link. He's going to help with some things. And…I wanted to spend some time with you too."

"Um, ok, if you really want to."

Zelda breathed out some air audibly, then smiled. "Oh, silly. We are forever indebted to you!"

"Zelda, I-"

"Shush, shush! Let's just go with it." Though Zelda was remembering the true events…_how the girl foolishly burst into the heat of battle…_

"But-" Meghan gave her an odd look. "OK." It was only now that Meghan realized what Zelda was wearing. She had on a beautiful shirt that looked like a dress, but on the bottom, she had on pants, similar to the ones she had made for Meghan. She also had no gloves on. This was the first time she had seen Zelda without some sort of covering on her hands. Maybe she and Link did that purposely? He didn't _always_ wear gauntlets, but fairly often. She could just make out a triangle, very, very faintly, outlined on Zelda's hand, as she followed her.

"I like your pants."

"Oh, thank you!" Zelda said, looking down at herself. "I just loved the ones made for you, and asked for a pair for myself. The seamstresses wish I wouldn't wear such boyish clothes, but you know me. I loved them! Thank you for showing me this style, Meghan."

"How did you even know what _I_ liked when you had them made?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Zelda winked. "But just as you and I are enjoying them, I'm afraid we'll have to change."

"Why?"

"Well, we can't go to a formal meal like this, now can we?"

"Um…we can't?" Meghan liked her black pants and decorative white top. She didn't want to take them off.

"No, we must change into something more approved by the court." She tapped her finger to her chin thoughtfully, daintily.

"That would be…?" Meghan asked, hoping she didn't have to wear a dress. Oh, how she hated dresses and skirts...

"Well, something a little less…boyish."

"Skirts, right? Dresses…"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Sorry."

"That's OK. Only I don't have a skirt..."

"Don't worry, some were made for you. I hope you like the ones I asked them to make. I'm not much one for keeping with fashion, but I assure you that the seamstresses would make them fashionable and beautiful."

"I'm sure I will like them," she said, although she didn't mean it. "I don't care about fashion or anything."

"All right, then, let's retrieve them from your room." Once again, Zelda led her through the extensive hallways. She once again tried to remember where she was going, but she was distracted because Zelda started talking to her. She passed a statue that stood out, though. She had no idea what it was of, though. Just a giant bird. "Oh, a few more things. First, I put another lock on the door to your room. It is a magic lock that will only let in someone with good intentions. So, nobody can come in and wake you if you want to sleep, and no one could harm you."

Meghan found this so odd that Zelda was all thankful towards her that she had helped defeat the "powerful, evil Ganondorf," but she still had to be protected in Zelda's own castle. _Whatever_. Zelda opened the door.

"Oh, yes. And the lock only works when you are in the room. Otherwise, it will open to the maids, me, and of course yourself."

"What about Link?" she asked without even realizing it. Then she realized. Oh. Maybe Zelda wouldn't quite understand their friendship…

"Well, do you want me to make it so it does let him in?"

"Uh…"

"I can, if you want." Zelda seemed eager to, but Meghan wondered if it gave the wrong impression.

"Sure, I guess."

"Yes, I didn't even think of that. Luke, I thought about, but…"

"Thanks."

Zelda smiled. Meghan was shocked when she went in the room. All her clothes and pajamas she had thrown on the floor this morning were not there. All the things she had used this morning were put back in place. It looked like it did when she first came here.

Zelda went into her room. Meghan followed. The bed, with all sixty million coverings and stuff, was made.

"Ooh. Room service." She laughed and sat on the bed. "I feel bad, I accidentally left a few things on the floor because I was in a rush this morning…I'm sorry!"

"No! Don't worry. The maids will happily clean!" That made Meghan feel worse. Maybe…if she could stay here, she would cancel maid service.

Zelda opened the wardrobe. It looked like a lot more clothes than yesterday, or even this morning. Zelda looked on the right side of it. There, Meghan saw skirts. And more skirts. And fancy shirts. Great. This was like a freaking Narnia wardrobe.

"Well now, what color would you like to wear?" Zelda asked.

"Um…" She strained to see what choices she had. There was blue…ick…yellow…ick…red…maybe…white…not in the mood…purple…no way…green…maybe…dark green…pretty….

…

Would she do it?

Risk her style?

"Um…well, I like the green and the red. I don't know. Um…"

"Would you like suggestions?"

"Um, sure."

"I think the red one and the dark green one are beautiful. But, let's see which one looks better on you. Hmm…this is the shirt that goes with this skirt, and this goes with this one. There." She pulled two outfits out of the wardrobe. Meghan suddenly chickened out.

"I like the red one." Red was better than green. Right? _Why do I have to wear a skirt? Argh. _

"Yes, so do I. Here, try it on." Zelda handed the skirt and matching shirt to Meghan. "Other accessories are in these drawers." She opened some to reveal tights and such. "And while you change, I will change myself. Is that all right?"

"Yes!"

"Then I will fetch my ladies to help with hair and makeup." Ew! Makeup! And Meghan had a _bad_ experience with brainwashing…a "makeover," and stuff with evil Gerudos…

"Can I just get dressed by myself? I can do my own hair." _Does my hair ordinarily look like a mess or something? I didn't think it was _that_ terrible…_

"I suppose, but it would be easier for you if someone else did it, wouldn't it?"

"Um, I don't think so."

Zelda tilted her head to the side. "What if I did it?"

"But Zelda…that's absurd! You're a princess! You cannot!"

"But what if I want to?" Zelda gave her a pleading look. Meghan sighed and responded with a shrug.

"Fine," she said unhappily, because she didn't want Zelda to have to. "If you want to!"

"All right, see you in a short while." She exited the bedroom excitedly, closing the door behind her. Meghan looked at the closed door for a second, shook her head, and then looked at the clothes in her hands.

She laid them on the bed.

"_Uck_…" she whispered. It was a darkish red color, sorta… There were two layers to the skirt. The inner one was a sort of transparent, but the outer one wasn't. It opened in the front a little to reveal the semi-transparent material, and it bunched at the ends to create volume. "What the heck kind of dress is this?" She removed her back pack and sword, and put it on. It fit perfectly and came down a little past her knees.

"Erm, tights…yeah…" She went to the drawers Zelda had indicated. "Uh, white, white, white, white, beige, black. She picked the beige, skin colored ones.

The shirt was long sleeved. The top went straight across from just below her shoulder on her arm, a bit below her collarbone, and to the other side. The shirt fit tightly across her body. Ugh! She wanted to not wear it _so_ badly. She shuddered.

The end of the sleeve flared out a bit, however the rest of the sleeve was tight. The flare of the sleeves seemed kind of unnecessary in Meghan's opinion. It had gold sort of designs on the front. The shirt slightly overlapped the skirt, making it seem like one dress. When she moved, it flowed around her. It was too girly, _really_. When she finally decided to look in the mirror, however, her opinion on the skirt changed.

It was truly a beautiful outfit. She couldn't help but notice how the tight top accented the curves in her body, and she once again noted how much thinner she was now. Kind of like she'd always wanted to be, but she wasn't sure if her weight loss had been particularly healthy…she basically hadn't eaten anything for the first two weeks she had been here because she had been scared shitless, broke, and hadn't wanted to depend on Saria and Link. And she had been running around like a nut. But then she supposed _lately_ she was eating better.

She went back to her wardrobe thing. On the bottom she remembered seeing shoes…

It had been a while since she had worn any shoes other than the sneakers she had worn every day since she came here.

_Hm, let's see._ She found two pairs of boots, two pairs of dress shoes, and flats, which she didn't pay attention to.

"Wee! Yes, something in this outfit makes sense to me!" She took out one pair of boots. They were black (other ones were less fancy and brown). She pulled them on. _Yes_! They came up her legs and ended about where the skirt ended, just to her knees, and they had a slight heel to them. She liked them. Her mom never let her wear boots like these. These ones rocked! And they gave a "Meghan" look to this dreadful outfit.

"Awesome," she said as she tied the laces on the new shoes. She jumped up when she was done and went to the door. Zelda was already sitting on one of the chairs in her room, pulling on a glove onto her left hand. She was dressed in a dress now, a purple one, and her hair was pulled up. She looked up at Meghan and smiled again.

"Wow! Very, very striking! Oh, you look so lovely!"

Meghan could scream. "Zelda, please."

"I love the…oh! It looks wonderful with those boots! You look wonderful, Meghan!"

"Thank you," she said, looking down and touching the skirt. "Now I think I'm too dressed up." Even though Zelda probably looked fancier than she did.

"Oh, no! You are perfect! Believe me. _Ooh_, now I must do your hair!"

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes, yes! Yes, I am sure!" Zelda seemed a bit too excited. _Oh, well. At least it's not a bunch of evil Gerudo girls! But I'm _not_ a doll!_

"OK."

Zelda made her sit down. She took a brush, and lots of hairpins, and hair ties.

"Um, what are you going to do?"

"I was thinking in a cute little bun!"

"OK…" Zelda pulled all her hair back. She tied it up high on her head, except her bangs She braided it where it was, then twisted it up and pinned it. Her bangs came down to her chin, a result of the Gerudo haircut.

"There. Look at yourself in the mirror." Meghan went to a mirror in the sitting room. She looked at herself. She pushed the piece of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you, Zelda."

"What for? You don't need to thank me." She smiled innocently.

"For everything! Thank you for all these clothes, this _room_, this hairdo. I really appreciate it."

Zelda took a deep breath while still smiling. _It's the least I could do for you…your terrible, uncertain fate. _"You are welcome. Now, come back so I can put some makeup on you."

Meghan turned around and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any black eye liner, would you?"

"Let's see, I don't...know really."

"Any black makeup?"

"Yes, the makeup for the eyes, but I don't know if it's eye liner."

"Can I see?"

"Sure!" Zelda gave her the makeup she had. There was eye shadow, blush, lipstick, etc…and black stuff!

"I need…makeup applying thing!"

"They should be there." Zelda stood up. Meghan found them.

"Oh, OK." She took the black stuff out and went to a mirror.

"I want to do it!" Zelda giggled.

"You want to?"

"Yes, I haven't done girly things in years!" Meghan was surprised that Zelda was so into makeup. She was royalty!

"'K." She sat back down. Zelda told her to close her eyes. She did, and Zelda applied the makeup. Meghan still didn't understand why she was doing it for her, but she went along with it.

When Zelda was, at last, done, Meghan opened her eyes and skipped to the mirror again. Her eyes were dark and intense, but seemed lighter in color than they had been. Her hair, pulled back, emphasized her bone structure, her defined nose and cheekbones. Her lips were full and red. She looked at the person. That person.

One who would not wear any colors.

One who would not wear dresses.

One who would not wear makeup.

And yet, in the last half hour, she defied her old habits and life. This could not be a human Meghan. No, it could not.

Inside, she felt…Hylian.

Sure, she didn't look the same, but she belonged here. She felt healthy, happy, and she felt like she belonged.

_Thank you, Link. Thank you, Zelda._

"Are you ready to go? We are supposed to dine at 18:30; I see it is 18:16."

"Yep." They walked out. The first thing Meghan noticed was how annoying the skirt was. In her shadow, she could see it flopping one way and another. But as long as she didn't look at herself, she could keep her mind off of it.

They were going to the dining room, Zelda told her. Meghan had never been there and had no idea where it was.

When they reached it, she discovered it was directly next to the kitchen, and they found Link and Luke already there. They were talking as if they had been friends forever. They were standing near the door. When Zelda and Meghan walked in, Luke bowed and Link looked confused. Luke quickly straightened with a huge grin on his face. Zelda gave him a glare.

"Luke, please."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

"Luke," she said in a scolding way.

"Zelda," he challenged.

"Luke!"

"Zelda!"

"Link!" Meghan said, for comical effect, holding up peace signs with her fingers. Link looked at her, and realized what she was wearing. He unconsciously ran his eyes over her body and blushed. She also noticed what he was wearing. It was a tunic, a light blue that brought out his eyes perfectly, with off-white pants and black boots. His gauntlets were not on his hands. She looked away from him. Zelda and Luke were now talking, distracted.

Link was the first to speak. "Um, I thought you didn't wear those colors."

"No…I didn't."

"Oh. Well, it looks nice," he said nervously, nodding continuously as though trying to convince himself it was OK to say those things.

"Thanks, you too." She smiled.

"Thanks…" It was then when Meghan realized that Impa was there. She came out of nowhere!

"Hi Impa, again!" she said sweetly. Impa was wearing what Meghan thought might be Sheikah dress clothes. The top was very tight and followed the same color scheme as her usual clothes, displaying probably more bosom than necessary. She had a skirt on also. Impa, though older, was truly beautiful. And she had an _epic_ body.

"Hello, Meghan," she said, following Zelda into the room, giving a small smile.

"Hello, Impa. Wonderful to see you again today!" Zelda hugged her. Impa gave her a tender hug, like a mother.

"Yes, Zelda. Same here." Zelda walked to the end of the table. A waiter dude pulled the chair out for her to sit. She thanked him and sat. Luke followed; sitting on her right side, while Meghan and Link took spots on her left.

Impa looked shocked as a waiter pulled the chair for her, and pushed it in as she sat.

"All right, then! Please, if you would…" she said to the waiter.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Please! Call me Zelda," she said, laughing nervously and standing, putting her hand on the waiter's arm.

"Yes, Princess Zelda," he said, smiling.

"Zelda," she said sweetly, tilting her head.

"Yes, Zelda," he said, and walked out a side door into a room that was apparently the kitchen. A few seconds later, the waiters arrived with a flourish, carrying appetizers. Meghan knew she would never eat the amount of food they would probably give her!

They set those silver plate things with lids down in front of Impa, Meghan, Luke, Link, and Zelda. There were five servers, and each of them pulled off the top at the same time to reveal some yummy looking soup like stuff. When the waiters walked away, Meghan stared down into it. It was an off white color, with little chunks of something floating in it.

"It is Cream of Rice soup," Zelda stated, seeing the look on Meghan's face. "It is very good."

"What are the little chunky things floating around?"

"Rice."

"You guys have rice here?"

"Yes."

"Awesome!" She hadn't had rice at all since she'd been here! Her diet consisted mostly of fruits and bread from the Kokiri forest, and the occasional soup from Kakariko when she found money.

They all picked up their utensils. She picked up the spoon. She opened her mouth, and shoveled it in. She expected something salty, but actually, it was sweet. She swallowed it. It was like soupy rice pudding. "This is really good! I love it!"

"If you think that is good, just wait until later," Zelda said joyously.

"Dessert?" she asked eagerly. She hadn't had a good, decadent dessert in a while!

"Yes!"

"Yay!" She saw Link pick up his spoon and try some. Wait, spoon, in hand. Left hand! He wasn't wearing gauntlets. She poked his hand. He looked at her inquisitively. She pretended to not have done anything as a joke.

"Err…" she grumbled, smoothing her skirt out (she'd probably not been sitting too lady-like) and returning to her soup/appetizer. As she put some in her mouth, she looked at Link's left hand next to hers. Sure enough, there was a Triforce outlined lightly on his hand. She put her spoon down and reached out and poked him again. He put his down too, looking at her.

"_Link_," she whispered, "_You have a Triforce on your hand._"

"Yeah, I know that." He laughed quietly.

"I never knew it was there," she said, amazed. She really had never noticed.

"It only shows up like that when another carrier is within the vicinity," Zelda said. "When all three are around, it will glow even brighter." She glanced nervously at Luke, as though wondering whether he would understand. He just gave her a curious, mischievous smile when she did, resting his chin on his hands.

"Cool." She finished her soup stuff. Impa was being very quiet, she noticed, and didn't eat much. Luke and Zelda talked while Link chimed in occasionally, and although she tried to listen, she couldn't because she was worried about Impa. She was all alone, and she knew what it was like to be left out of a group.

"Hey Impa, are you all right?"

She looked up at her. "Yes, Meghan." She put her spoon down. Zelda stopped talking to the two boys for a second.

"Thank you, Meghan," Impa said quietly.

"What for?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thanks." Meghan got the impression she didn't like to talk so much.

By then, the waiters had come and took their plates from them. Meghan thanked the dude as he did. They put a second course in front of them. They took their tops off.

"Oh, wonderful!" Zelda, dare I say, squealed.

"What's this?"

Luke and Link smiled too. Impa even smiled. "Only the best." Luke said.

"Yes, a delicious food," Zelda said.

"What is it?" Meghan asked.

"Wonderfully delicious," Impa said, to tease her.

"But what _is_ it?"

"It is delectable and mouthwatering!" Luke said

"It's appetizing and filling!" Link said.

"It's-"

"OK! I get it! I just want to know _what_ it is made of! And the name!"

"Oh, right," Zelda said.

"So?"

"It is…"

"Yes?"

"Zelda, just say it!" Luke said. "Goddesses, you're going to give the poor girl anxiety! What are you thinking?" he said jokingly.

"It's a completely made of the finest vegetables."

"So it's name?"

"Vegetable...um, goddess, I only know it in Hylian!"

"What's it in Hylian?"

"It's _Soufglre_." Weirdest word she'd ever heard.

"What?" she said while laughing. "_Soufglre_?" she said, butchering the word. It sounded ugly on her tongue. Hylian "r"s had a very distinct, guttural sound to them, so that made the word sound even crazier.

"Yes, Vegetable _Soufglre_," Zelda said in her elegant Hylian.

"OK." Meghan had to try it. It was delicious, all right! It had a wonderful, salty, umami, perfect taste to it, almost having a spiced taste like Indian cuisine. She loved it! And the others seemed to be enjoying as well. She wanted to finish the whole thing, but she knew she wouldn't be able to eat further courses if she did…but she did anyway.

The next course was something similar to it, but she didn't like it as much. For the last course, they had dessert.

It was some sort of mini-cake things, still hot from the oven. Each person had one.

"Yummy!" It tasted kinda like a cheese cake! And it was probably very similar. She didn't want to even think about how many calories she had just eaten…

As she finished off the cake thing, mostly, the others finished as well. When they were all done, Zelda breathed out and said, "Shall we retire to the sitting room?" She looked at the four faces around the room. Link and Luke shrugged, and Meghan nodded. A waiter pulled out her chair for her. She thanked him. A person did the same for Meghan and Impa. Link and Luke stood.

"This way, please," she said, leading the way to her room. Before they went inside, Meghan pointed to her door.

"Link, that's my room," she informed him. "I will show you later!"

"OK," he said, looking at it and their surroundings and committing the halls to memory before entering Zelda's crib.

"Please, have a seat." Zelda gestured to the chairs and couches. Luke and Impa found a chair to sit on, and Zelda sat in one too. Meghan and Link sat on a couch.

Meghan sat back in the chair, not at all acting like she had a skirt on. Zelda, however, sat up straight. Meghan put her hands behind her head, and said,

"So, what's up everyone? Or down?"

"Nothing," Link said, knowing the way to answer the question.

"Um, I think the sky is up, and the floor is down, was that a trick question?" Luke quickly said the last part as Meghan began laughing. But, in reality, he meant what he said. He didn't know she meant by "what's up."

"Sorry, it's only funny because where I come from, what you said would actually be a comedic answer to the question. I really meant, 'how are you?'"

"Oh," he said. "Well, I'm just fine, how are you? Why didn't you just ask that?"

"Because that's what it means, where I'm from."

"Interesting," they all kinda mumbled, except Link.

She had a devious grin on her face. The updo she sported accented it. Luke looked at her, and then sighed in defeat.

They were talking about something, and Meghan said, "chicken."

"What exactly is it?" Luke asked, baffled by all the weird things from her world.

Link took a deep breath and braced himself for a long explanation.

However, "It's a cucoo," was all she said.

"Oh," Luke said, now conversant.

"So…Meghan, I am ashamed to say that I do not know a lot of your history. Will you please tell us about yourself and your life on Earth?" Luke asked, smiling politely.

"Oh...sure, I guess. What do you wanna know?"

"Everything!" he said.

She laughed. "Um...OK? Well, I was...uh, born and raised in New York in America, my country. In a small suburb. Um, I had my mom and my dad and a brother. My dad was a..." she laughed. How to explain an engineer to them? "He made technology. My mother was a teacher. I was a sophomore in high school..." She paused, starting to feel the homesickness and missing coming on. Link had not been looking directly at her as she spoke, but he looked up to her face at that point. She looked up to the ceiling, taking a deep breath. "I...wanted to go to college...study genetics...be a doctor..."

"A doctor! That's so noble," Luke said, laughing to lighten the mood. They could all see her faltering. _They all understood loss._

She laughed, happy and sad at the same time. She was in such good company, but...

"Not that noble! I probably wouldn't get into medical school anyway. It's very competitive to be a doctor in America."

"You can do all that you put your mind to," Impa said gravely. Meghan turned to her and smiled.

"I would try my hardest, if I...had the chance...again..."

And thoughts of going back to her home flooded her mind, thoughts of what was to happen two days from then. She looked down, still smiling sadly. _What is it, do I want to stay or leave? I couldn't even choose..._

Link turned to her and put his hand on her back comfortingly. She looked up, and they all smiled at her.

"Meghan, if I knew only one thing about you, it would be that you are perseverant." Like she had seen during that final battle.

She laughed. "Thank you, Zelda."

She changed the subject. They talked of the Hylian economy, advice for Zelda, and even later in the conversation, Luke and Link somehow started talking about sword fighting strategies. While they did this, because Zelda, Impa, and Meghan were not as interested, the girls started a conversation of their own.

"Hey Zelda, how old is Luke?" Meghan whispered.

"He's twenty-one."

"Ooh! Zelda!"

"What?"

"Twenty-one? That's like five years older than me!"

"Many years younger than I," Impa said with a short laugh. "He is acceptable, Zelda."

"Impa!" Zelda let out an airy cry, glancing in Luke's direction, but he was busy talking Link's ear off. "Please, that is…"

"Zelda, I must approve. And I do."

"But…"

"Hey Zelda, at least she _did_ approve, right?" Meghan said, smiling.

"Yes, yes. Silly me! Thank you Impa."

"You're welcome, Zelda. I only wish the best for you."

"So, Zelda…"

* * *

"That's so stupid Luke!" Meghan cried. "Why did you ever do that?"

"I had no choice," he said, starting to blush. "Oh, well."

They laughed, then were silent for a few moments.

"It's 22:00! Time is such a quickly flowing river," Zelda said.

"Whoa…" Meghan said, not even realizing how it had grown late ish.

"Well, I should get going. My mommy's waiting for me!" Luke said, standing, grinning.

"Don't forget to pick up the food from the kitchen!" Zelda told him. "Luke lives with his lovely mother, Masri." Meghan and Link nodded understandingly. Luke stood up and Link did too. Link and Luke (The LK's!) stood and…patted each other on the back or something.

"Bye, Link. Bye, Meghan. Bye, Zelda…" he said the Zelda part especially slow. He walked to Zelda, picked up her hand in his own, and gently kissed it. "Good night, Impa." He walked out of Zelda's door, gently closing it behind himself. Zelda looked after him, bringing the hand he kissed to her heart.

"_Luke_…" she whispered. "His mother is ill. She is getting better than she was, but still, he needs to take care of her. I hope she will be all right."

"That's so sad. I'm sure she'll be OK, though."

"I hope. She doesn't want me to help though…do I annoy? Do I show off? Sometimes I think people don't like that I try to help them…" she looked down.

"Zelda, that's not true! People love it! I loved it, at least. You helped me, and you didn't annoy me at all. Never think such a thing."

"Yes, Zelda. Don't. You're a fine princess," Impa said.

"Yeah, Zelda. You have us to help you," Link added. Meghan silently thought, _why does everyone seem to forget? Sometimes I think I'm the only one who remembers what's going to happen only two days from now. I can't help her. Not that I could, anyway._

"Thank you, Meghan and Link, and, of course, Impa." The three nodded.

After a few seconds, Link said, "I think I should go, too."

"No!" Meghan cried. "Don't!"

"I have to. And you should sleep," he told Meghan, looking at her fine, detailed face. She was sitting so close to him. She looked different. She'd been made up the other day, in the desert, but that was a different sort of look. That had been more casual and flashy. Now, she just looked…elegant. So different, she looked exactly the opposite of how he always thought of her. But in a good way.

"But I don't want to! I like staying up late! I always have!"

"Yeah, but at home, you didn't have an injury," he reminded her.

"Since when do I have an _injury_?"

"It's time to go to bed," Zelda said, giggling.

"What? You too? Impa? You can't be tired?" She turned to face Impa.

Impa smiled. "I'm with the little one."

"Me, right? You're with me?" she pointed to herself. She felt endeared to have been called "the little one."

"Yes."

"Yes! In your faces, Zelda! Link! The Sage of Shadows says I can stay up! Even when it is dark! And she's the Sage of Shadows! So she can say these things."

"That's not exactly how it works…" Impa said.

"Nope," Link said, tilting his head and smiling.

"No," Zelda said, doing the same but opposite direction.

_Damn, they really looked alike._

"Well, we must listen to the Princess and the Hero of Time. They are the highest-ranking individuals in Hyrule." Meghan hadn't even thought of that! Link was equal to Zellie, because he had a Triforce.

"Fine, I'm just kidding anyway. :) :) :)"

"I think _I'm_ going to sleep; I am exhausted," Zelda said as she stifled a yawn. "It was a pleasure to be with you all."

"No offense, but you Hylians go to bed early."

Zelda laughed. "It was an early morning, my dear."

"OK, I just want to show Link my room before he leaves. OK, Link?"

"Sure. Good night then, Zelda."

"Good night!" Meghan said. "Thank you!"

Link turned to face the Sheikah in the room. "Good night, Sage Impa," Link said once again in his extremely respectful way.

"Good night, you two," she said as Meghan and Link walked out. "Sleep well."

Zelda told Impa something quickly, and then Impa went out too. Meghan grabbed Link's arm, pulling him as Impa disappeared down the hallway.

"This is my room!" she said, throwing the door open.

"It's nice," he said, walking in. He was surprised how big it was. It was almost as big as Zelda's, even.

"Sit! And don't go!"

"Sorry, but I should." He looked around, taking in the sights, but he knew the longer he stayed here, the more he wouldn't want to leave.

"Fine! Byebye!" she said, giving him a quick hug. "I'll see you at…10:00? Please?"

"OK."

"Good bye!" she said, fake cheerily.

"Bye." He walked out the door.

"No! Don't go!" she said, throwing herself at his feet before he could close the door. "Darn, reverse psychology doesn't _work_ on you!"

"No, whatever it is, doesn't. Please get up, you'll get your clothes dirty!" He pulled her up.

"No, don't leave yet, I don't want to be here alone. Please? I can give you a tour! Show you things! Or we can explore together, because I don't even really know what's here. Please!"

"_Meghan, don't let Zelda hear you_!" he said in a whisper, a gentle smile on his face. She sniffed falsely and let go.

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Meghan." He turned around and started to walk away, wondering the whole time _why_. He knew why but…everything in him didn't want to.

Meghan felt a lump in her throat. Soon tears started to fall down her face. She tried to stop them, but couldn't. She tried to be silent, but couldn't. She made a small whimper sound. "Meghan?" He turned back around and saw the genuine tears fall down her face. "Oh, please don't cry." He went back to her, where she was leaning in the doorframe. "It's OK, I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded, but tears kept falling down her face. "Shh, don't, please. I don't like when you cry." She wiped some of her tears away, her body shuddering as she tried to stop it. "Good. Now, I'll see you tomorrow. It's not too far away, when you think of it. I'm always around. Always. You just have to remember that. OK?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I'll never be far."

She nodded while sniffing. "I'll see you to-tomorrow…" she said quietly. He gave her a quick hug, pulled away, looked at her for a second, then turned away and walked down the hall (not even knowing where he was going, really.)

She turned too, and closed the door behind her.

* * *

"OK, well, I'm stuck here by myself, may as well make the best of it!" She went into the bathroom. "Time for a nice bath!" She turned on the water, making it nice and hot. She carefully undressed, leaving the fancy clothes in a neat pile on the floor. She pulled all the pins from her hair, and then let it all down. "Ahh…" she said as she got in. This was the first _real_ bath she had had in a very long time. She wasn't one for baths much, so she'd never even took them when she had been home (shower power!). She leaned back and savored the moment. She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and saw a shelf next to the bathtub. There was lots of shampoo and stuff there.

"Shampoo stuff! I think!" She gingerly picked up a glass bottle and smelled it. It smelled like…flowers…flowers…

She picked another one up, this one smelled like potent perfume. "Ick!" it stung her nose. The third one she liked the most, it smelled like fruit! "Yay!" She dumped a bunch in her hands, rubbed them together, and then worked it in her hair.

She sat there for a while, thinking of things a girl might think about, then after a while, she got out. She wrapped a towel around herself and crossed the sitting room to the bedroom, making sure her front door was locked in the process. She threw open the doors to her "closet" thing, and took out her pajamas. They seemed to have been washed since last night… "Cool." She sniffed them and they smelled like fresh laundry. She quickly got dressed, 'cause it was cold! "I need a blow dryer! And some of that anti-frizz stuff that makes my hair soft! Oh, well. Whatever."

She put her hair in a messy braid, to ensure future knots wouldn't occur while she was sleeping.

She "made" her bed, meaning she threw everything except the small blanket, two pillows, and a sheet on the floor. She sat down, leaning against the headboard and looked into nowhere. Then she got up.

"Wonder what Zellie put in here?" She went into the sitting room, to explore. There was a desk in the corner, near a window. She sat at it, and opened the drawers. "Pencils, paper, more paper, fancy paper, quills, pencils again…hmm, what's this?" She opened a small box. Empty. "Well, that was a rip-off." She opened a drawer to the side. Emtpy. "Yet another." A drawer on the other side…empty. But upon closer inspection (and due to the fact there was a string inside) she discovered a hidden compartment. Inside she found…papers…

"A letter?" She read it quickly, not knowing.

_Dear Impa,_

_ I wonder if Ganon knows Terminian? Well, I shall write this in that language anyway. I don't like being here, when can I come back? I miss you, and Zelda. Sometimes I wonder why you even sent me here. Was it because I was bad? I hope not, because I don't think I was bad. My parents didn't do anything wrong, either. Please, Impa, tell Zelda so I can come back. Does Zelda know Terminian? If she does, you can show her this letter. _

_Please send your response with the messenger I sent with this letter. He will only be here for a short time, so you and Zelda must hurry. _

_ With lots of love,_

_ Sierace_

Meghan wondered about the letter for a while. What was it? Who was the girl, Sierace (and how did one pronounce that name)? Was it even a girl? She seemed to know Impa and Zelda very well, and the Royal Family? Why was she sent away? Should she tell Zelda about what she found? She quickly looked into the secret compartment. It looked like it hadn't been touched in ages. Yet how could it have survived Ganon's reign? Surely everything in the castle had been destroyed. She stuck her hand in and brought out a whole bulk of letters. On the bottom, she felt something hard. It looked like a diary!

The sad thing was, she couldn't read it. It was in Hylian.

Should she tell someone about this? Maybe Impa. She quickly put the letters and book back. She'd take a look later. Right now, she was tired. She closed the drawer; careful to make sure the hidden part would be concealed.

She continued her investigation of the room, and found a bookshelf. Sadly, most of the books were too in Hylian.

"Link, starting tomorrow, you are going to teach me Hylian," she said to herself as she looked through the books. She looked on the top shelf. "Nothing." She looked at the bottom shelf. "Yes!" She saw three books in English. One was an information book, the other didn't look too interesting, but the last seemed familiar… "Hyrule at a Glance? Wasn't that the book Link was reading?" She looked on the back cover, to see the summary that would have normally been there. Obviously it wasn't. She opened the book to the first page while walking back to her room.

She got in the bed, pulling the covers over her legs and looking at the book.

"Interesting…_We came here three years ago. This strange land called Hyrule was breathtaking…_" she read aloud. "_When we arrived, to bring the royal message to the King and Queen from our homeland, we didn't expect to see such a thing."_

_And so, we ventured onward, meeting new people, making friends…_

_But just who are we, you ask? Why, we are the Freshenians. We have traveled from our land, Freshia, across the vast forest connecting our kingdom with Hyrule's…_

_Our lives changed when we came here…bringing us joy and sadness alike._

_This is our story, the story of Hyrule. At a glance. _

"Chapter one: Beginnings. Whoa, how long is this book?" She looked towards the back. It was 458 pages. "Cool, and no wonder Link liked it so much." She got comfortable and read until she could barely keep her eyes open. When she couldn't stay awake for a moment longer, she put the book down on the floor and blew out the candles around the room. "Fire bye bye."

She lay down, and soon fell asleep…

* * *

As Link galloped away from the castle on Epona, he thought about leaving Meghan there.

He reached his house, sitting on his bed. He looked out into nothing.

"I can't do this. I…" He faded away, realizing Navi was in the house, listening. "Navi…" he said, not sure what to think.

"Link, if you miss her so much, go get her! You could have stayed for longer, you know!" Navi had not been around then, but she knew.

"I know…but I wanted her to get rest…maybe she _has_ healed, but I think she's still stressed, especially after this morning."

"How do you even know if she is sleeping? What time is it anyway?"

"I have no idea. I don't care. I just…"

"Yeah?" she prodded, landing on top of his head.

"…want…" he tried to continue, struggling with his words. Why was it so hard to acknowledge this? Was it because he knew it was wrong? What kind of person was he, anyway? He was supposed to be the hero of this land, not someone who needed saving himself. And he couldn't ask someone to save him. Not her. _He_ should be saving _her_, but these were things he couldn't even do. He didn't even know what was going to happen to her, and it killed him. _He didn't know how to save her._

And the absolute worst part was the realization that…not only could he not save her, but he could be the one to kill her.

_How could he just do that?_

"Yeah?"

"Goddesses, Navi, you don't understand. This is far deeper than whatever you're laughing about."

"I know, Linky," she said, strangely serious. She lay down on his head, putting her hands on his forehead. "Hey, listen. You can't blame yourself for any of this. You saved the world already. You'll get what you deserve for that, I promise." He sighed. "And it might be in the form of a gir-"

"_Navi_!" he yelled, turning red, reaching up for her, but she flew out of the way. "You…_fairy_."

"What?" she asked, putting her tiny hands on her hips, hovering in front of his eyes.

"You're too…nosy." But he did feel strangely comforted by what she'd said. Navi knew him well.

"Thanks, Linky." She smiled.

"I don't want to stay here, I'm not tired. I'm going out. Do you want to come?"

She looked at him for a second, hovering in the air in front of his face. Then she shook her head. "No, you go do what you need to do. I'm going to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Bye!" She flew to the windowsill and sat down there, on her tiny blanket.

"OK, I'll see you soon." He left the house. Once in the field, he called Epona. He knew what he was going to do, just needed a way to execute it.

He mounted Epona and rode around for some time, killing it in the darkness. He thought of his plan. He was going to stick to it. Then, he rode to Hyrule Castle Town. There, he dismounted and walked across the dark, empty town to the castle.

"I've done this many times. Doesn't look like it's changed much. Guards…as unobservant as ever." He snuck past every last guard into the castle, finding the way in. "Security…bad as ever." He thought it was insanely stupid to leave the drawbridge down. He didn't blame Zelda, no, he blamed her defense. Meaning that General Shina guy. He had to have a talk with him.

He had no idea where to go in the castle, he just knew it was somewhere in there…he had to find it.

He entered the castle. _This could be like another temple, before Meghan even existed._ He quietly walked through the dimly lit hallway, the light sound of his footsteps and a small clang from his weapon the only sounds he made. He went through many halls, encountering dead ends here and there, but kept going. He had to find that room…he knew it was there somewhere…

"Good," he said, seeing the door finally. "I couldn't live like that…" He looked at it for a moment, but it was too early. He walked around, he observed the minimal decorations in the hallway.

He came across a rather large statue of a bird, its wings stretched out a bit. As soon as he saw it, he got a weird feeling in his gut, in his body, like something was pulling at his memory. He stood, in the dim light, staring at it for probably longer than necessary, wondering why it felt so familiar. Maybe he'd seen something like it before. He wasn't sure. He shook his head, and made his way back to Meghan's room.

He tried the door, and to his surprise, it opened. He laughed a bit quietly, "Perfect." However, he didn't like how it had just opened. Didn't she lock it?

Still, he was here.

Just perfect.

He didn't want to be lonely…

* * *

**Yaay! So the next chapter might take a bit. If you remember the old version, the next chapter would be that stupid/silly "Un Peu Plus" chapter. Well! It actually came at a perfect time because recently I've been thinking a lot about Luke and Zelda's back story. When I originally wrote this they didn't have a huge history, but I had the feeling they had known each other before this. Then maybe a year ago it came to me! It's wicked. So I decided to write that story, and I'm going to stick it in next chapter. Hopefully this will give you a better understanding of Luke's personality and background, and the dynamics of their relationship. Because in my mind, I really love Luke. I think he's freaking fantastic. Actually, I kinda think of Pipit from Skyward Sword when I think of him. A little. Not exactly. Haha. :D**

**I dunno if you noticed (lolz not that it's at all apparent), but Luke is actually bisexual! **

**Thank you for reading, if you are reading! :D lalala…probably talking to myself at this point. XD**


	22. Double Hearted: Luke's Story

**Double Hearted **

Luke was different. It wasn't because of the special, secret trade he was learning from his father, or his excellent grades in school that made the teachers wonder. He got along quite well with everyone and felt as though he had not an enemy in the world. He was spirited and fun, blessed by the goddesses with a killer sense of humor.

What made him different had nothing to do with the rest of the world, but with his feelings, his own heart. To Luke, everyone was equal. To him, anyone was worthy of his heart.

* * *

I was standing in my father's office, having just returned from the mission he'd sent me on. It hadn't been simple. He was pushing me to be the best I could be. I knew I had to master this, and he wouldn't stop until I was there. My task today had been to find the princess, somewhere within the gigantic castle, and report back to him with her whereabouts. All within twelve minutes. I was not to alert her nor, perhaps a more difficult task, her Sheikah caretaker of my presence. Intelligence, stealth, speed. These were all important qualities found in a spy working for the crown. I was proud to follow in my father's sneaky footsteps.

When I returned to his office, with just a minute to spare, I somewhat proudly relayed her whereabouts. As the case had been, the princess hadn't even been in the castle. I had found her standing in her favorite courtyard, doing a bit of spying herself. She stood looking through a window to the throne room, where the King of the Gerudos met with her father and mother. Her caretaker stood careful watch over her. I am certain, to this day, however, that I was not spotted.

I may never know, because as my father sat there and filled my brain with even more information, a man came rushing in. He was one of my father's, a spy under his command.

_The King of Thieves, the Lord Ganondorf of the Gerudo, had done it._ Something in him snapped, and the king and queen _were gone. _

I heard the information as the man told my father, and it was difficult to wrap my brain around. Ganondorf had killed them, and apparently was on a rampage to _find the princess_.

This was knowledge I had. Knowledge that, most likely, only myself, my father, and the Sheikah caretaker had, and that Ganondorf badly wanted. I don't believe I'd ever been so frightened in my life. Mostly not even for our lives, but for the princess. The girl was in far more danger than us.

My father had a tight look on his face, his mind focusing on the correct thing to do. But goddesses above, I've known every day of my life and still know to this day, my father cared for me. My father was loving. Before he issued whatever order he issued that day, he turned to _me_.

He said, "Son, you know this castle well. Take the underground passage and get out of this place. Get as far from this place as you can. You have something the Gerudo King wants and I am certain he will stop at nothing to find it."

I said, "But what about you? What about the princess?"

"Do not worry for me. Do not worry for the princess. Her Sheikah caretaker will not allow her to be harmed. Do the greatest thing you can do for me. Get yourself away from here."

* * *

I never even saw the great evil again until years later. My father, however, crossed his path not too long after he told me to get out of the castle. My father stood with soldiers and his fellow spies, trying to stop the terrible man so we could save what royalty, what innocent royalty, we had left.

We were lucky. He was merely injured in that encounter, and the princess got away. The evil king, at that point, was more interested in going after the princess than killing whoever stood in his way. But there were casualties. Far too many.

We did not return to the castle. In fact, just as everyone else, we migrated to good old Kakariko, where we were no safer from the evil king, but at least farther away. Even as the years passed, my father did not give up his profession. Life moved on somewhat like a ghost, in a terrible economy with very limited resources, in a world filled with monsters.

For those who had been previously employed by the crown, there was nothing. Not enough jobs, not enough houses, not enough of anything. Our only saving grace was that my dear mother was able to work in a small shop run by her friend that sold essentials, so they had relatively good business. She was paid in goods, since rupees had little value then. She only worked a few hours a day because the shop tried to help everyone it possibly could. She had previously been a school teacher, for young children. She had no funding to do so anymore, and few families could pay for an education for their children. So my mother taught for free, every morning. My father felt terrible. He even told me he felt _useless_, with all his skill and prowess, _he_ felt _useless_. The thought…was terrifying. He didn't give up, though. He kept himself busy.

His new, self-made mission was to find the princess and her caretaker. He knew she was out there somewhere, but no one knew where. His only goal was to protect her. His fellow spies would come meet with us surreptitiously, so Ganondorf's minions did not find us out, but he did not tell a single one of them of his plans for the princess. He only shared that mission with me.

I became his eyes and ears. As it turned out, the injuries he had sustained from his encounter with Ganondorf were everlasting, darkly magical in nature. He was not agile anymore. He walked with a cane.

When I turned eighteen, four long years after Ganondorf's violent reign began, he finally deemed me ready. He said he would always continue to teach me everything he knew, but now I was self contained. I could be my own spy. The real missions began.

* * *

He showed me a map, a large map of what little was known about the vast forests that surrounded Hyrule. There was close to nothing in them but the fabled Kokiri Forest and long roads to foreign places. The maps couldn't even tell us where the Kokiri Forest lay, just where it didn't. There was a giant stretch of forest that was supposedly dangerous. Supposedly, if one was lost in them, one was lost forever. One would turn into a Stalfos, a horrible bag of moving bones.

So that was the challenge. My father was sure that the princess would be hiding in those forests, so deep in that one would be afraid to follow her. I was to find evidence, any clues to their whereabouts. He said that they _must_ come out of hiding for supplies, for food. They couldn't purely live off the forest. He was frustrated that he had no leads.

I set out one early morning, a cloak around my shoulders and my boots squeaking in the dewy grass. He thought they would choose the early morning to move about. Night was too difficult in the dark, and using lights would attract attention.

I looked into the entrance to the forest, the area where the outskirts of Kakariko turned into trees, past the farmlands. I was working from nothing. I would just have to keep my eyes open, my ears sharp. I passed the trees, soon was engulfed by them, hidden in the cool forest beneath the sun-blocking canopy.

I wandered for some time, following my map, covering the area I had started with for today. This was the section my father and I believed they would most likely travel, but if I found nothing, I would try elsewhere tomorrow.

I looked at the trees, checked the ground for prints of any kind, or any Hylian artifact that might have been out of place. For two hours I searched, finding nothing, knowing that prime searching time was nearly up. I made a circle around the perimeter as a final check, but was disappointed. I did not doubt that they would be good at covering up their tracks. Or maybe they had just not passed by here. It was difficult to know.

I was in quite deep, so I started making my way out. I walked slowly and quietly, still observing all I could. I heard a sound, but figured it was merely an animal. I turned my head…and saw a flash of blue disappear behind a tree.

* * *

He turned all the way around, eyes searching. He didn't hear another sound. It had looked like the clothing Zelda's Sheikah caretaker once wore. He waited for more movement. There was none, until he heard a faint, slithering sound. He walked forward quietly as he could, in an arc, trying to get around to see what it was that made the soft, branch jostling sound. He couldn't see it…and the noise stopped. He stepped behind a tree, hiding himself from sight, waiting.

She'd paused, but she ventured a glance up. She saw nothing. Where did he go?

So this was a match of wits, a match of stealth, they both thought, both not knowing who exactly the other was. One had been training his whole life for this, knowledge and skill burned into his otherwise standard Hylian body. The other had only experience for a few years, though she had a certain magical wisdom that aided her.

She breathed quietly as she could, hidden beneath brush, waiting for any sign that he had moved. She would wait here all day, if she had to. She could not let herself be found…this was what she had been afraid of for _years,_ and what Impa desperately pushed into her brain. _Do not be caught. Even though you look like a boy, it is not safe to get too close to people._

She crouched there for what felt like minutes, her muscles started to protest. She was afraid to move. Was he gone?

Finally, it seemed like it had been too long for him to still be there. She would just quietly sneak away, under the cover of the bushes.

She quietly and slowly turned, making as little noise as possible, and began slinking on all fours, her hands and knees picking up dirt. She would continue like this for a bit, then run for it. She was certain she could at least out run whoever it was.

There was a sound behind her, and she turned a bit to look. Was that him? Had he gone the other way? She raised herself a bit from the crouch, in order to see, but saw nothing. Was it safe?

She turned back around…

Bang.

There he stood, leaning down slightly to look. She gasped, falling backward, scrambling.

* * *

He was surprised at who he found. This wasn't at all what he had expected. This was a boy, a _Sheikah_ boy, if he wasn't mistaken. He had extraordinary red eyes, but the majority of his face was covered. Did…Sheikah live in the forest or something?

"Wait!" he said, trying to stop the boy from leaving.

She was breathing hard, but she recognized him. A million memories flooded back to her, of her days in the castle. This boy…man…young adult man boy…he was that boy she remembered from the castle.

His father had been…her own father's spymaster. In a way, they were similar, born to carry on what their fathers had done. She remembered dining with the boy many years ago, one night when the king had asked this manboy's family to dinner.

His name was Lukas. And he was supposedly a genius. _A weapon of pure stealth and intelligence._

The fact that she recognized him stopped her from getting out of the situation. She was curious. Was he _looking_ for her? How had he known where to look? Maybe he wasn't looking for her. Maybe this was a complete coincidence.

"My name is Luke. I don't want to harm you. Maybe you can help me."

She stared, wide eyed at him. She couldn't talk. She couldn't. She was still unable to change the tone of her voice, though Impa helped her practice the magic nearly every day. She had only recently mastered the ability to change the color of her own eyes at will, but changing the voice was different. With her eyes, they would change and stay that way. When she spoke, however, her voice was constantly changing pitch and timbre. It was far too difficult to maintain for more than a few words.

There was a large possibility that he would recognize her voice if she spoke. She didn't know what he was doing here, but she still couldn't reveal herself.

He crouched down to her height. "I'm sorry if I seem ignorant, but you look very much like Impa, the Sheikah who once cared for Princess Zelda. Would you know of her whereabouts?"

Oh no. So he _was_ looking for her, for them. This couldn't be good…who could be looking for her so fervently? No one, she imagined, but _Ganondorf_, that evil man. Yet she couldn't _believe_ that this boy was on the other side.

Her father had told her time and time again who he trusted, and who he did not. He had told her he had great reason to believe that Edmund Rinelo, his Spymaster, was loyal to the crown, as well as his Foreign Relations Master, Umom Borabul. He had told her time and time again, however, that he put no trust in the general of his armies, General Shina. The only reason he allowed the man to be his general was because the former general had been killed in the war around the time of Zelda's birth. The king had replaced him with Shina due to his ability to negotiate with the Gerudo, the most troublesome of the races in Hyrule. The reason the war was fought. His skills as a general (and as a man of the public eye) were lacking, however. He had been searching for a replacement for Shina.

She stared straight into Luke's eyes. She would not tell him anything.

But she had a feeling he truly meant no harm to her.

But why was he looking for them?

"Maybe I should introduce myself better, I'm sorry. My name is Lukas Rinelo, son of the former Spymaster of Hyrule."

Her eyes wandered to his waist, where for the first time she noticed the outline of a blade hanging from his belt had become apparent when he crouched. His hands were hidden under his cloak. She stood.

He noticed what she looked at and also stood, towering over her. He held his hands out in plain view.

"I do not intend to hurt you. Do you know the whereabouts of Impa?"

She shook her head.

He sighed, certain she was lying. There was no way that there were _two_ Sheikah in the world and they didn't know each other.

"Please, if you see Impa, tell her that we search for her, my father and I. We have been searching because we know the princess is out here somewhere. We want to offer any help we can." He looked off to the side. "I imagine it cannot be easy to live in hiding…"

Was this the truth?

She took a step back.

"Please!" Luke implored, reaching out.

She took a deep breath, concentrating on her voice. Just for a second, she was able to elongate her vocal chords.

"If you are truly loyal to the princes, don't follow me," she spoke in a voice she hoped was passable as that of a teenage boy, if a bit monotone.

Then she pulled out of her pocket a Deku Nut and threw it to the ground with force, just in front of him, and took off running through the forest.

He coughed and sputtered, waving at the air, closing his eyes as the smoke irritated them. He took a careful step back, moving out of the smoke.

It cleared in a few seconds and he looked all around, following the direction he'd heard the boy run. The footprints!

But then…he wondered if he really should follow them. If he left this chance, they would likely fade before he could return. Still, he couldn't follow them now. He wanted nothing more than to prove to the princess that he just wanted to help. But then _who was the boy_? Were there even more Sheikah? Was he related to Impa? Why didn't he know of more Sheikah? He'd been under the impression that Impa was the last of them.

So what if he followed the prints and didn't reveal himself, just found her location? But then what good would that do them? He couldn't bring things to them because he wasn't supposed to know.

He was locked in this internal conflict for a good minute or two before he decided he needed the guidance of his father.

_Ha. So much for being my own spy._

* * *

My father was waiting outside our small home when I returned, mud on my boots and likely a confused expression on my face.

"My son! What news have you?" he asked in a hushed tone as I approached.

I smiled. "Father, I have far too much news to wrap my brain around." (I like to wrap my brain around things, usually.)

We went inside, down into the secret cellar where my father kept everything he'd once had as a spy.

"Well? Spit it out!"

And I did. I spit some crazy information. My father stared wide-eyed when I told him I'd found a _Sheikah boy_.

"Yes, there is no doubt, that boy must know at least of Impa's location, but most likely he knows the princess as well."

"Father, could there be more of them? Perhaps that is where the princess has been all these years, hidden from the world by a secret group of Sheikah?"

"Luke, the world has many mysteries. It is our job to solve them."

"I was so torn about whether to follow him. I lost his location."

"You did the correct thing, I believe. Do you remember four years ago, when you and I alone knew the location of the princess? The same day, the evil king was trying to find that same knowledge."

I nodded.

"Our goal as spies is often to uncover knowledge, but come times when we must _protect_ knowledge. We must hide it away in the opposite way that we find it. Sometimes this is done by hiding it from ourselves."

I'd heard that first bit of information a million times (though it never lost its potency) but I don't recall my father ever saying that not knowing something was better than knowing it. He realized my confusion.

"You and I are on a constant quest for knowledge. It is sometimes difficult to give up the chance to find it. But Luke, you did the correct thing. The Sheikah must know that we are allies. They must learn they can trust us."

I nodded.

"Of course, you must go back and continue to form this trust. Do not go farther than you had today. Wait for them. In the meantime, I have another task."

* * *

It was quite difficult to regain my breath when I stumbled back to our camp. I had run fiercely, faster than I had in a long time. Impa had been cooking our breakfast over the small fire, but when I came into sight, she looked up with a surprised and worried expression.

"What has happened?" she cried, standing immediately.

I went to her, fighting tears that came with my fear.

"There was a boy…he was looking for us."

I told her what had happened.

"You spoke to him?"

"Yes, I was able to lower my voice for a few moments. But I said nothing else."

"You are certain he did not follow you?"

"Yes, I am certain."

She gave me a worried look, then gathered me into one of her maternal hugs.

"I have always known Edmund to be trustworthy, and surely his son must be following the same path of loyalty. I cannot depend on this assumption however. We must err on the side of caution with this."

"What will we do, Impa?"

"We must move, of course. Somewhere far. It will be less convenient, but we cannot forsake caution."

"Yes," I agreed.

"Also, we must be _sure_ to never be seen together, especially now."

If anyone saw us together, they would have great reason to assume something terrible. Impa is supposed to be with the princess. If that young spy saw us together, he would likely be able to deduce who I truly was.

I will not say this was ever easy, but this life was all I had for seven years. I nodded.

* * *

Shina. Doesn't the very _sound_ of his name give you the creeps (as Meghan would say)? Believe me, no one ever liked the man. None of us spies, anyway. Liking him and trusting him _might_ have been two different things, except for the fact that we didn't even trust him. His record seemed (mostly) flawless, but we just had a bad feeling.

Next mission: stalk Shina. Find out his real motives. Was he with Ganondorf or not?

Shina lived in a house not too far away from my own. He spent his time with other similarly creepy men, not working, not really doing anything, it seemed. We had reason to believe that he was able to live off of what he had made as general, but his life just seemed too easy, compared to everyone else. Maybe that was just the type of man he was. I don't know.

I watched his home for a few days after the Sheikah boy incident. Nothing special happened. He would leave every night and go to the inn, drink himself silly, and go back. I didn't follow him into the inn until I was sure I had no other way of finding information from him.

* * *

I was certainly old enough to be in the atmosphere, but not too many people my age went to the inn in those times. I had to try very hard to look like I belonged, which included spending our precious little money on a drink I didn't intend to swallow.

I sat at the bar, waiting for a chance to talk to him, waiting for him to be loose-minded. There was a man sitting next to me who thoughtfully took a chug of something every few moments. I stared my drink down as I listened to Shina talk from a few seats down. Then the man sitting next to me spoke.

"You look a little young to be here," he said.

"I'm older than I seem," I responded.

"I feel like I've seen you before…in the castle. I used to be a guard."

"Oh…" I was afraid Shina would hear. I didn't know if it would make a difference, but I didn't want Shina to know who I was.

"Yeah, I used to be a guard…but now I have nothing."

Oh, how my heart would fall whenever I heard these stories. There were too many of them. Anyone formerly employed by the castle, mostly these guards, were left with nothing. I wished I could help them, but I didn't even have the resources. The worst part…was that every few weeks, a large group of them would band together, wage an attack on the castle, because they had nothing left. None were ever successful. This was half the reason we were so interested in Shina. He never helped. You would think that the former general of the king's armies would have helpful ideas, but he apparently never did.

We weren't sure if it was because he didn't want to help, or if he was just stupid.

Personally, I'd always believed the latter.

"I can't…I can't even provide for my children, you know that? I have a son; he's brave. Only four. He tells me he's going to be like me, but I don't want him to be like me. I have a daughter, only a year old. She's beautiful, splitting image of her mother. Little Dia. But I can't help her. I'm just lucky…lucky that my wife has the brain she has. But I'm a failure."

I turned to him. Goddesses, I could not tolerate these stories. They were too heart breaking. I put my hand on his arm.

"You are not a failure. You have done nothing wrong. Everything is the fault of the evil king. We will soon be relieved from this." Though I wasn't sure how, at that point. I just knew there had to be an end. None of us knew about Link until near the end of it all, when rumors of his good deeds spread like wildfire.

"This is never going to end."

I wanted to say, "Then stop wasting your money on drinking," but I couldn't. He didn't need that from me.

Shina let out a loud, intoxicated laugh from his seat.

"And that damn man doesn't give a care," he mumbled, taking a swig.

I nodded and stood.

"General," I greeted, taking a seat beside him. He and his cronies gave me a scrutinizing look.

"Who's that?" one of them asked Shina. He shrugged.

"Dunno, Rilba. His father must be a soldier, is that right?"

"You could say that. I came to inquire about the raids on the castle. I was wondering if you have any plans, because if you don't, I have some ideas—"

"Boy, you wouldn't know the first thing about an army."

"You're probably right." Though I was certain I knew more. "Surely you must be planning another, right? You planned all those others," I knew for a fact he didn't, "so you have to have new ideas."

"Yeah…new ideas. Sure do."

He was totally lying! "I heard that you used to negotiate well with the evil king. Couldn't you use those skills again now?"

He laughed. "The evil king does not want to listen."

"So you've tried."

He looked shifty. "Of course I have!"

"General, things are getting very bad here. If you're going to lead a new raid, I want to join. Do you meet? Do you train?"

"Uh…sure."

"General, I'm serious. When will you do it?"

"I don't know yet, boy."

"Sir, I'm not a boy. I'm a man, and I want to help." I was kidding…but it was funny pretending to be an eager kid. Maybe I really was a kid, but I still felt like I knew more than he did. I could be a better general. I don't know; I might be slightly conceited as well.

"You're too young. Go spend time with kids your own age."

I pretended to be the eager kid for a while that night, but I couldn't get any incriminating evidence out of him. There was reasonable chance it didn't even exist, but his entire career really just seemed too suspicious. I went home with nothing exciting to tell my father.

_Just wait for the day, Shina, we'll catch you yet._

* * *

I was out in the field one day. I hadn't been there in the longest time. Most people tended to stay hidden in Kakariko, just because it felt safer. I'd been out in the forest that morning, searching for traces of the Sheikah, but found nothing, so I went to cool my head and think, out in the sun.

I walked aimlessly. Still, I somewhat knew where I was going. I somewhat sort of kind of wanted to go there. You'd think my life was full of enough adventure, as a spy (Meghan tells me stories of dramatized lives of spies from her world, where they have code names and fancy machines called _cars_), but being a spy was so natural for me that I think I secretly wanted more. I wanted to walk on the sky, not the ground like I always did. I would be Luke the Sky-walker. Yeah, that would be the greatest day. A break from the norm and the stress of life in a struggling economy.

But since I could not fly and most likely will never be able to, I wondered the field. It was rather peaceful, but it grew visibly darker as I drew closer to the old castle town. I had such memories of the place, ranging from school days to my old home, to spy training and playing Hylian "hot potato" (another _Meghanism_) in the central square.

Now it was ruined and stunk of evil. Really, it was a bad smell. The drawbridge was broken (though I could easily hop over the moat), just adding to the foreboding feeling. So I jumped it, naturally.

At first, walking through the entrance where the guards once stood on duty, it seemed normal. It just seemed decrepit and worn, but I didn't see anything unusual right away.

I continued on to the square. Perhaps I was being a fool.

I only remember staring, wide eyed, at strange, Hylian-like creatures, walking slowly about, dragging their feet along the broken cobblestones. They had no faces, no eyes, no hair, and seemed to be composed of bare, rotting flesh. They were horribly disfigured. Maybe this was what I'd smelled (and there I thought I really had smelled evil).

I knew I had to get out of there, though I did carry my father's sword at my side. But my never ending quest for knowledge kept me frozen in place, observing (or so I thought). I could give you every gory detail about how revolting these creatures were, but that's not the interesting part. I was seriously, _honestly_ about to turn and run for it, when one looked at me, terribly devoid of soul, and screeched like I'd never heard in my life.

Then I _really_ could not move. I tried, really, I did. It just grew closer. I struggled. I was literally frozen. And believe me, I wasn't even that scared. I was terrified, but I'd never before been so terrified that every message I sent to my limbs was rejected. This was different. Something was keeping me there.

I had no idea what the thing was capable of. I didn't even want it _touching_ me. I could smell it, the stench burning my nostrils. Maybe that was the worst part. I really didn't want to smell like that.

By the greatest luck ever, though, a blur of blue came into view. It was like destiny, you know? I laugh at the thought of it.

The Sheikah boy was in front of me. He had some sort of twin blades in his hands, and fearlessly he pushed them forward, chopping the flesh of the monster and beating it into submission, until it fell smoldering and melting (and stinking even worse) onto the ground. Then I could move.

* * *

Luke jumped back right away, then smiled.

"It's you! You are brilliant! What are these things?"

He continued asking Sheik all types of questions. The boy just turned and eyed him with eyes like red rupees. Luke stopped asking. Sheik took a step to him, put her hand on the tall boy's shoulder, and starting pushing him out of the town.

Luke took the hint and the two jogged back to the field, Luke smiling the whole time. But when they got to the green grass, he remembered. He had to be his business self. His spy self. He had to find out about this boy.

They were out in the open, so the Sheikah had nowhere to run to. This was his chance!

"Thank you for helping me," he started. "I owe you, for sure, yet I still must continue asking you what I started to ask last time we met. I did not follow you. Can you trust me now?"

Sheik looked at him still, wondering how to respond. She shook her head.

He sighed. "I would be willing to do anything, for any information you may have about the princess."

Sheik started walking, leading him back to Kakariko. Luke followed.

"You do know where she is, right? I know that the Sheikah are protectors of the royal family. I thought Impa was the only one, though. Are there more of you?"

She looked at him again, eyes wide and full of wisdom, and for possibly the first time in his life, Luke felt _stupid_. Like he really was asking stupid questions. She just continued to Kakariko.

"Will you tell me anything?" he asked in a quiet voice. The Sheikah kept walking until they were near the entrance to the village. They stopped there. Luke looked down at the "boy," several inches shorter than himself (as most people were). All Luke could see was his eyes.

"I can assure you that the princess does not need your help. You do not need to continue trying."

"How did you know where I was?" Luke responded.

The boy's eyes opened a bit wider. But then he gestured to the entrance to the village, telling Luke to go there. Luke didn't budge.

"Won't you tell me?"

"I had a dream," she responded before suddenly throwing one of those damned Deku nuts to the ground, blinding Luke.

"Wait!" he cried through the smoke, but when he could see again, the Sheikah was gone. He sighed in defeat.

* * *

Ma was gone when I returned, as I expected her to be. She would be at her job at the shop, after her morning of teaching the children. I took out some vegetables and chopped them to bits, all while dissecting my day. Honestly, the last thing I wanted was to be preparing and eating food after seeing and smelling those sickening creatures l-o-l (Meghanism), but I had to help my mommy out, since I didn't do much with my days and she took fabulous care of us. I didn't go to find my father because…I knew he wouldn't like what I'd done. I knew he'd be unhappy that I'd gone where I did. And I hadn't been able to get any information from the encounter with the Sheikah boy, anyway. It wasn't worth it to mention.

I heard coughing from another room, and I turned to look. It was my father. He was here? I hadn't realized. I guessed my mind was too busy thinking about other things.

I went to his bedroom, where I found him lying in bed.

"Father, are you all right?"

He smiled at me. "Hello, Luke. I'm fine. Just a headache."

"Oh, all right." I felt skeptical. "Well I'm making some stew. Maybe that will help you feel better." I smiled.

"Thank you, Luke. For everything you do."

What else _could_ I do?

* * *

Mother returned later.

"Luke! My baby boy," she said as she held her hands out to me. I went forward and she reached up to my face, kissing my cheeks from her tip toes.

"Ma," I cried. "How was your day?"

"Superb, my darling. Crying children, complaining customers, my favorite! I'm thankful for them every day."

I knew she wasn't being sarcastic. These things were better than what some people had. My mother had an indestructibly optimistic outlook on life. And while my inquisitive, stealthy side came from my father, I must admit my _killer_ humor came from my dearest mother. I am such a perfect amalgamation of the two of them.

"Where's your father? Scheming in his cellar?"

"No, ma, he's actually lying down. He said he didn't feel well."

"Oh, really?" she shuffled over to their bedroom. I followed. She asked him how he was. He was sitting up, reading, his glasses on his nose. He looked all right. He smiled at her and told her he was fine.

_He was fine…_

So we were both keeping lies.

* * *

The young man affected me. I felt both terrified and intrigued. The night before, I'd had that tiny dream of him, a tiny vision of a prophecy. Most likely he would have been fine without my help, but I could not just let his seemingly good heart be tainted by the monsters of the world. In my mind, I trusted him, despite what my judgment and Impa's caution told me. No one who could be of harm to me would so boldly march up to those terrible dead-again creatures and then be scared to immobility seconds later.

Still, I did not tell Impa of our encounter. She would not like me purposefully going to meet the boy like that.

It was a few days before I saw him again. He was in Hyrule Field again, far from Kakariko, off the path to Lon Lon. I saw him from the cover of the trees. He certainly was different. Not too many Hylians would be found there in those times.

Luke…I found myself drawn to him. It was like he had some secret, reverse way of luring me in. It did not even seem as though he was looking for me. For anything. He just sat in the field.

So, as the fool I was and always shall be, I went to him.

He barely flinched when I arrived beside him. He did not even speak, which I found strange. He had questioned me endlessly during our last two encounters. He stared into the dark clouds over my old castle, my old home. And I sat beside him.

He had a wonderfully young, boyish and detailed face. There seemed to be so much more to him than what I had seen. At that moment, he seemed to be struggling. I did not speak. I waited for him to do so, and it took him a bit.

"He is keeping something from me."

I did not know who _he_ was, at first. There was another long moment of silence as I pondered who _he_ could be.

"I would say more, but it seems that when I speak, you run. When I am silent, it seems you will stay."

I blinked, concentrating. I drew the magic down my throat. "Tell me what ails you."

He looked at me then, with those intelligent eyes. "My father…grows more ill by the day. He won't admit that something is wrong. But I know he went to see the doctor this morning. I'm sure _he_ knows that I know, even though he never told me. He continues to pretend. I don't think it's so easy to pretend, however, when you've taught your son every trick you knew. I can see straight through everything." He made a fist, tightly, tensely. "I can't…put my mind around this. I don't want to believe it."

Thoughts of my own father rushed to me. I had to imagine I had not been as close with my father as Luke was with his, judging from the way Luke spoke of him. My father had tried to protect me in the same way, however. He would not tell me something was wrong, even if it was obvious as the sun rising. I believe it is a thing all parents do. They only want to protect their children.

"Your father does not want you to share his pain and worry. He wants to protect you."

It took a moment for me to realize that I had not even tried to change my voice magically. It just happened, without my deep concentration. I internally panicked, hoping I had not sounded strange.

"I know."

How glum he seemed! I placed my hand on his shoulder, lightly. "Life takes us on paths that are unavoidable and frightening." I wanted to continue, but I felt my voice changing. I wanted to convey to every bit of wisdom I could to him, but I was unable. I looked down.

He looked at me. "Thank you," he said. Then he smiled. "Do you at least have a name I may call you?"

I looked up.

A…name?

Through all my supposed wisdom, had I never thought to give myself a new name for my new form? I felt very foolish. I forced the vocal chords down, and choked out the first thing I could think of. "Sheik…"

"Sheik? Sheik of the Sheikah?"

I could see he wanted to laugh, but he thought it was my real name. He would not want to be so rude. I only nodded.

"I am honored to finally meet you, Sheik."

I nodded in response.

"I shouldn't ask you more questions, then. I am happy that you answered one."

I put my hand on his upper arm, and looked him in the eyes. I nodded again, and he nodded in return. Then I stood.

"Oh, I see. It's time for you to leave. Please, do spare your Deku nuts! I swear to Nayru that I shall not look where you are going. See? I'll turn this way."

With a goofy grin on his face, he turned himself toward Lon Lon.

I smiled beneath the cloth that covered my face, then took off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Then, I was really terrified. It was the absolute worse feeling in the world, seeing someone fading before your eyes. Especially one you are so close to, one you share everything with. I did not know what to do. I wanted to do something for him, but the only thing I could think of was to get him the information he wanted, before it was too late.

_Too late._

Since when were things too much for my father? Never before! Everything about this was wrong. I saw the look in my mother's eyes. She would never stop smiling, but it was there.

I don't know why, but I really wanted to talk to the boy. To Sheik. There was something about him, some strange wisdom I had found comfort in. I didn't know how old he was, but the wisdom was certainly beyond his years. I searched for him obsessively, planting myself in different places, waiting for him to show up. It took another few days, at which point I was so desperate, I considered going to the old town square again.

Foolish, again. Waiting to be rescued by a boy.

I left up the mountain, not all the way to the top where the Gorons resided, but to a nice ledge where I could look out over my town. I really didn't expect to find him there.

Well, I didn't find him. Why could I not ever find him? He found me, time and time again. But at least he did.

"I will sound terrible and hideously manipulative if I ask this of you," I began somberly, "but I just want to give my father something and I want to help him in some way. What he wants…is information. He needs it."

Sometimes I wondered if it was why he became so ill. After four years of being unable to learn things, it finally…

"If you are asking me to divulge information about the princess, I cannot."

I understood, but at the same time, I wanted to strangle him and scream that my dying father was not going to harm her. My _dying father_, damn it.

"I will, however, tell you anything about myself that you wish to know."

It would have to do.

"Are there more of you? Sheikah?"

He did not speak.

"Oh, I see. That question is not about yourself, is that it?" He looked at me. Again with those oddly colored eyes. "Fine, then, are you related to Impa?"

He looked forward again.

"Impa is my mother," he said.

That was a shock. I did not expect them to be so closely related, though I had expected something. But then where had he been for so many years while Impa cared for Zelda? I had never seen or heard of the boy, and neither had my father!

"Then where have you been?" I cried in my surprise.

"Sheikah culture is quite different from your Hylian culture. You must know this."

I did not know this, _Sheik_ _dearest_.

"Every young Sheikah trains their entire youth, alone, learning the magic given by the goddesses. By the time Zelda was born, I was out in the wilderness."

Somehow, I couldn't believe this. Impa had a son that had been alone in the wilderness since Zelda was born? I didn't imagine him to be much older than Zelda would be. This was insane. Was this what made the Sheikah who they were?

"What? How old _are_ you? How do you learn that all, by _yourself_?"

"Sheikah age rather slowly. We live a rather multiplied length of time compared to Hylians. I am older than I look."

"Then how old?"

He hesitated for a mere moment, his eyes squinting as he stared, as though he was concentrating, then answered, "Eighteen."

Same as I. Strange.

"So how do you learn anything by being alone in the wilderness?" This idea was beyond strange to me. Everything I knew was taught to me by someone. I think I would be incapable of learning if someone did not teach me.

"These things are in our souls."

"So you will not tell me if there are more of you."

"What else do you wish to know?"

"Let me think. You're kind of imploding my mind right now." (XD couldn't resist—SS reference)

* * *

I was relieved to finally have something to report to him. After weeks of nothing, I went to him, sitting in bed, and told him everything I had learned about the Sheikah boy. I heard my mother singing from the kitchen, a beautiful ancient ballad. I told him about the Sheikah, and I told him that the boy knew about the princess. I told him of Sheik's relationship to Impa. I told him everything I had learned, and he listened with a smile on his face, nodding.

As I spoke, I still heard my mother singing, but she began to falter. I heard her choke. I heard her sniff. And soon it was silent altogether.

* * *

I wondered why I did not seek solace in my Hylian friends, several of which had lost someone as I did. For some reason, I did not want to see them.

I was still in disbelief, but at the same time, the thought of forever without him was…terrible. I was so used to my father's guidance. Who would I be without him? Who would my mother be? I had never been one to shed tears, but I would have if I could.

I was in the field again when he came. It was the only thing that lifted my heart slightly. He sat beside me as always, pulling his thin yet muscled legs up to wrap his arms around.

"Why?" I asked him. One of my millions of questions. He was getting better at answering.

"The goddesses do things for bizarre reasons. Not one of us mortals have the ability to explain their actions. One day, however, when we reach the goddesses' divine heavens, we will know the answer. For now, we must accomplish the tasks we were born with."

It was the most I'd ever heard him speak at once. The words he spoke were true words that I knew already, still I felt comforted.

He put a thin arm around my shoulders. I thought he was rather…touchy for a Sheikah. But what did I know? I did only know Impa as the other Sheikah in the world. She didn't seem the same as him.

Still, I felt comforted.

* * *

"_Da, is it weird?"_

"_Is what weird, my boy?"_

"_Today I told Zeek that he was pretty. He told me that was weird."_

_There was a pause. "It is not weird, Luke, not at all."_

"_So Zeek was wrong?"_

"_Yes, Zeek was wrong. What Zeek meant was that most boys call girls pretty, not other boys. But there is nothing wrong with calling a boy pretty, if that is what you think."_

"_I do think that. I also call girls pretty, da. I told Elma she was pretty, too."_

"_You think Elma is pretty as well?"_

"_Yes, I do."_

"_Which one is prettier?"_

"_They are the same pretty."_

* * *

For days after, I would always meet Sheik in the field, near the trees where he could escape to the forest when he needed. Every day, he stayed a moment longer. We would talk about life, not about ourselves, since he seemed to be more comfortable with that. But I still learned about him. I learned how gentle his soul was, how much he cared for people. How fair he was. How strong. He was curious like I was, but in a different way. How he was timid, but growing more brave by the day.

And he would look at me sometimes, with a strange twinkle in his eyes, because that was the only part of him I ever saw. I could generally tell when he was smiling, but when he felt true emotions, he would look at me, and his twenty-rupee eyes would express so much.

I sometimes felt strange because I knew this whole situation was strange. And I'd always known I was different, but at the same time I was typical. I never expected this.

There was one day he came to me, looking disheveled. He usually looked somewhat disheveled, but this time he looked tired. Super disheveled.

"Did you not sleep?" I asked with a smile. He sat beside me without a word.

"I had another dream."

"Oh."

He didn't speak much of his dreams, but I got the idea that they were quite different from my own. He played with the covering on his head, pushing the hair from his eyes with slender fingers.

"Can you tell me about it, or is that off limits?"

He looked at me sideways and responded, "I am afraid that I should not tell you."

"You should take a nap or something, Sheik," I joked. He didn't look _that_ bad, but he did seem tired.

"Yes, I should. Perhaps sleeping in the daylight will drive the nightmares away."

"I hope it does." We talked a bit, and I was telling him a story about my father from when I was young. I thought it was a rather funny story, but I noticed his eyes closing when I looked over at him every few seconds. I wanted to say that I was offended her would fall asleep while I was telling a story.

"And then he said—"

Plop.

His forehead had connected with my shoulder. He sat cross legged, his hands hanging limply to his sides. He made tiny little breaths, like snores.

I laughed until I _cried_.

* * *

She knew Luke was going to come by soon, so she waited for him at the entrance to Kakariko, hidden behind trees, her heart beating madly. This was too dangerous. She shouldn't be doing this…because the evil she ran from stood across the field from her. If Impa knew what she was doing…Impa would be terribly disappointed, and not to mention worried out of her mind.

But Luke…he would surely be coming here, going out to see her. If he did, he would run straight into the evil king. She didn't know what could happen to him.

She saw him coming, down the steps that had been built into the hill, on top of which sat Kakariko. She ran forward, to tackle him off the steps, but it seemed he knew she was coming and moved off into the wooded area before she could explain.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing something amiss about Sheik. She breathed heavily still, fear in those fierce, expressive eyes of hers.

She put a shaking finger to her mouth to quiet him, then said so quietly her voice might be confused with the rustling of leaves, "The evil king stands in the field with his minions."

There was a look of shock on his face, and she knew he would want to see for himself. He started forward, then looked back at Sheik.

"I would like to see, but if you wish to remain here, I will be right back."

"I want to see as well, but I fear…I fear I will be seen…"

"Sheik, you should stay away. You should go back home, actually. I'll see you again somewhere safer, all right? Let's meet in the forest tomorrow—"

"I do not want to go back; I want to know what he is doing, with those men."

Luke looked at him, tilting his head to the side, thinking. "Then stay hidden in the forest for now. I'll go check up on him." He was wickedly curious to see if Shina was in the bunch.

"Luke…be careful. I believe in your abilities, but the evil king is extremely powerful in his own right."

"Don't worry Sheik," he said with a smile and a wink. "Just keep yourself safe."

"Luke, heed my words. You _must_ proceed with caution."

Luke stared unsmiling into Sheik's eyes. "I will."

Luke moved through the forest, around the perimeter of the field, until he saw what was certainly what Sheik spoke of.

He'd never seen anyone so dark, from whom emanated so much malevolence. He couldn't see the face well, but the man towered over Hylians standing before him, atop a purely black horse. He had fiery red hair, and seemed to be wearing armor over a bulky body. Luke observed carefully as the king paced before a crowd of thirteen men, their backs to Luke. He looked carefully, but did not recognize any as Shina, though he thought he might have known a few of them.

He could not hear what they spoke of, but he observed and tried to deduce. It was impossible. He was so intrigued that he nearly forgot about Sheik, until he barely detected something behind him. He turned to see the boy peeking timidly from behind a tree.

She snapped her finger up to her lips again, making sure he was silent. He moved back carefully to join Sheik, staring from around the other side of the same tree.

They watched in silence again, though Luke was dying to ask him why he'd come after all. Maybe he'd been taking too long and Sheik was worried about him. _Oh, the thought_.

While they carefully observed, both practicing their trade of stealth, Ganondorf seemed to stop talking. He had been looking in their direction, but moving about. Now, he was still as he looked like he was staring out, above the heads of the men he spoke to.

One of them turned around, and they knew.

As though he had meant for them to hear, they heard in a great, deep, terrible voice, in Terminian, "Search every bit of that village until you find what I need! Leave not one house unsearched! Use any force necessary! As your king, I command you!"

Then a chorus of cheers.

Luke and Sheik were already running.

* * *

"They're going to Kakariko!" Luke cried, scared out of his mind for everyone else. "Sheik, you need to go home, now! Go to Impa!"

"I cannot let him hurt anyone!"

"I will take care of it! Please, Sheik!"

He flashed his eyes at Luke as they dodged branches and bushes, a serious look. "I am the only thing that can stop him. I must protect the people."

Luke was surprised at this, wondering why Sheik thought he was such a match for Ganondorf, after being so afraid. Why he felt so inclined to protect everyone he ran from.

"I can't let you get hurt, Sheik!"

"I will meet you there." Sheik picked up the speed. Luke could not keep up with him.

"Sheik, _no_!" he said in a desperate voice. "I couldn't bear to see you hurt!"

She tried to ignore the flip in the stomach and couldn't help the thoughts that everything in her life was only halfway good.

_She was able to escape the evil king and keep her Triforce safe from him, at the cost of not only her identity, but her country._

_A great hero would soon save them all, but he was a mere four years into the seven year sleep which would mature him, physically and mentally, into the hero of legends._

_She was enthralled by an amazing, uplifting boy, but he thought _she_ was a boy and shouldn't be associating with him to begin with._

She was a fool, but she couldn't help it. _One half fool, one half wise._

There was rustling far behind them. They were being pursued. While she could cover up her tracks and disappear, she could not help Luke do the same. There was no time.

They continued on until they broke into Kakariko. Luke gestured to Sheik to follow him to his house, in the back of Kakariko. His mother would still be at work…

He almost pushed Sheik inside. Sheik gasped.

"Luke, we should face them. They will be cruel to the people."

"Sheik, _no_. I don't know what it is, but I know you're terribly involved in this. I know you know where the princess is, maybe that's it, but you _cannot_ be found, all right?"

"I cannot just stay inside."

Luke looked out the window.

"Please, Sheik, I implore you. Stay here. I will go find out what it is they are trying to find."

"I will come with you! Luke, I must protect these people!"

He was so confused by Sheik's seemingly sudden interest in protecting everyone. Wasn't his purpose to protect royalty? The princess? Something was odd here.

"Stay," he said finally.

Sheik was defeated. She was far too scared, but she was trying to convince herself otherwise. _Why do I so lack courage? These are my people…I need to protect them, but I am letting this boy do everything for me. I am torn…if I am caught or discovered, it can be catastrophic, but do I just let everyone suffer to protect me? It seems either option will fail my people._ She nodded to him.

He blinked at her, then smiled. _Oh, that_ _optimism_…

"Let me show you something that very few know about," he said, walking to his small living room. There was a small rug in front of a worn sofa. He kicked it back, then reached down and pulled at a crack in the floor, pulling it back.

She was surprised, seeing a secret room beneath his house. There was a ladder leading down, but otherwise it was dark.

"Come on," he said, taking the ladder down. She looked about, then followed him cautiously. He lit a lantern, placing it upon a table near the center.

There were shelves of books, papers, maps, and things that Sheik couldn't name around the room. She didn't know what it all was until he explained.

"After…Ganondorf took over, my father didn't want to stop what he did. It was his whole life. He took everything he could and kept it here. A lot of stuff you'd want to know about anybody, anywhere."

She stared with wide eyes at all the information around her.

"Your father must have been amazing."

There was a moment of silence. "He was."

She walked up to a book and gently touched it.

"You…if you want to, you can read it. I trust you. This is all mine now, and I have no one else to share it with."

She looked at him, surprised that he would share all this secret information.

"I would be honored to share it with you, O Great Sheik of the Sheikah." He laughed. "That is, as long as you stay here while I find out what the problem is."

He looked at him for a second, then nodded slowly.

"Thank you. I'll be back soon, I promise."

* * *

I was relieved. Beyond relieved. I was afraid for him. But the boy was fragile somehow. I knew he could fight, I knew he could run, but he could not battle. He was best at staying in the shadows, using his wisdom behind the cover of forests. I thought that at one point, anyway. Now I know such is not the truth.

When I had covered the cellar with its trap door, I went to observe the outside of my house, in my village. They were there, I saw them at the doors of others. I snuck out through the backdoor, going to listen to what I could gather.

"I will only ask you once more. Have you seen a young boy in blue clothing, who resembles the Sheikah Impa?"

"No! I swear, I haven't seen him! I would tell you if I had!" came a hysterical woman's voice. "Please, leave us alone!"

Luke heard crashing noises, then a man emerged from the house.

"I don't see anything."

"Hmm," the man who had been questioning the woman responded. "If we find you have been hiding him, you will be severely punished."

She was crying. She weakly fell against the door frame in her fright. "I swear…" she whimpered.

I was so angered. How I wished I could just rush to them and cause them the kind of pain they were causing the people. I was no match, though. There were too many of them…

I looked to a different direction, remembering my mother. She would be working then. I was afraid they would go to her shop, so I made my way, unnoticed, to the part of town where she worked.

"Hello, pumpkin! What brings you here?" she said with her smile.

"Ma, it is unsafe here. The evil king's—"

"They were already here," she said, her smile fading. "I'm sorry, darling."

I rushed forward to her, leaning over the counter she stood behind. "Are you all right?" I asked fervently.

She smiled. "We're fine! Don't worry. They just asked us if we knew anything about some boy…we had no idea. They looked around…ended up taking some things, but that's fine. As long as we're all fine."

"Ma…this _isn't_ all right."

"I know, pumpkin, but there's nothing we can do about it. Please, Luke, promise me you won't go try anything. They will be out of here soon enough. I doubt they will find who they looked for."

I figured I felt how Sheik had felt when I'd told _him_ to stay put, then. I imagined myself in my mother's place. I just hoped to the dear goddesses that those evil men didn't hurt anyone.

"Ma…I don't like you here with this going on. Will you come home?" I looked to her coworker. "I will bring you home as well, Mrs. Alvira."

They looked at one another.

"I'm sure with this fright, no one will come to the shop, anyway, Masri," Mrs. Alvira said.

"Yes, that is true."

They decided to close up the shop, hurriedly cleaning and locking everything they could. When they were ready, I looked out the back door, then rushed them along. We ducked behind houses to Mrs. Alvira's home, and safely got her inside. Then my mother clutched my hand as we silently ran home. She picked up her skirt as she ran. I won't lie, my mother was rather stealthy herself.

We went through the backdoor to our home, my mother sighing as we locked the door.

"Have they come to search here as well?" she asked, a neutral look on her face.

"No, not when I was here."

"I hope they will not."

I couldn't have so much hope.

"Ma, maybe you should go to the cellar, just in case."

"The cellar? No, my dear boy! I will face them once again if they decide to show their ugly heads. Maybe bop them a bit for stealing our goods."

I laughed, knowing she was kidding, but shuddered at the thought of what they might respond to that with.

"All right, ma, but there's something I should show you anyway."

"What is that, my dear?"

I was just walking to the living room, to uncover the secret beneath, for her to finally meet the boy I'd been obsessing over for four months. As we would have it, though, that was when we heard the banging upon the door.

We both turned suddenly, our heads snapping to the door. We gave each other a look, and I walked to open it.

"No, Luke, let me answer."

"Ma!" I cried quietly.

"Let me," she said with a smile. I gasped, but she opened the door. I stood in shock behind her, seeing a man in the doorway.

He interrogated her, my mother standing calmly. Was she shaking inside? Was she frightened? I had no idea. I couldn't see. If my mother associated with a goddess, it would have been our dear Farore, for her courage. Few have the courage she did, to see the light beyond the dark and the good in the evil.

They came in our home, searching everywhere. I stood in the living room, on top of the carpet that hid the secret door, pretending to be a scared boy. I believe they must have been tired and frustrated at that point, though, because the man merely looked around (not half as violent as the woman's house a few houses down) and grunted. He soon left. She locked the door behind him, then made sure the curtains were all closed.

"You wanted to show me something, before we were rudely interrupted?" she asked.

I laughed. "Yes." I looked around, just for good measure, before pulling up the carpet again and opening the trap door.

She came to peer over the edge, seeing that there was a light on below. I dropped down.

"Sheik, can I introduce you to my mother?"

He didn't respond audibly, so I was sure my mother didn't know he was there at first, but soon he came into view. She gasped, not expecting a boy to be there. I noticed an open book of my father's notes on the table. He'd gotten through a lot since I'd left.

He followed me, cautiously, through the hole in the floor, and I put the door back on.

"Mother, this is Sheik. Sheik, this is my mother, Masri Rinelo."

She stood with her mouth agape slightly. "This must be the boy they searched for," she said very quietly.

I nodded, looking to Sheik, who stood expressionless. "I didn't tell you a lot of things, for obvious reasons, but Sheik is very important. We have to protect him."

"Yes! We will. Don't worry, Sheik, we will keep you safe for as long as we must. Those men were terrible. I don't know what they want and you don't need to tell me, but I will keep them from you. And so will Luke."

"I truly appreciate your help. However, I should not even be here. I am putting you in danger, first and foremost. Thank you for protecting me while you could. I will leave now."

* * *

"We shouldn't leave!" he said, looking into Sheik's eyes. How he wished, just for once, that he could see all of Sheik's face, his entire expression.

"I cannot stay here…Impa will be worried."

"But you can't go out there…they're everywhere. Just stay until they leave."

Masri looked worriedly at the two. Such grave things her son was now involved with…

"Sheik dear, we would love if you could stay just a little while longer. It would give us peace."

Sheik looked at Luke's mother. "I truly and deeply appreciate the offer…"

"Stay with me, then I will accompany you myself as far as you will allow me," Luke told him.

Masri didn't like this…but she knew she couldn't stop Luke. He was capable. His father had trained him so well. And he was determined, just like her husband. She looked out the window, pulling the curtain back just a bit to sneak a peek. She didn't see anyone, but she certainly couldn't be sure where those bad men were.

"Hey Sheik, I know you haven't been in a house in a long time. Stay with us until dark. We'd love to have you here."

She looked between the two of them. This made her extremely uncomfortable, being so close to people. Maybe it was the fact that she was with his mother, who she'd never met before. She couldn't imagine for a second that the woman would do anything bad, but just being with another person, after having no one for so long, was strange. She reached her hand up, making sure the covering on her face was covering _everything_ it could, then nodded.

Impa was going to kill her.

"Hey, come to my room for a bit! I want to show you some things," Luke said to Sheik. He nodded again.

"Would you two like some dinner?" Masri asked.

Sheik politely refused, but didn't mention that it was because eating would require her to expose her face. She insisted that the two ate anyway.

"Sheik, what do you like to eat?" Luke asked as they took a short walk to his room, which was opposite his parent's room. It was small, fitting only a bed, dresser, and some space in the middle.

"To eat? I am not sure. I enjoy many things."

"Like what, for example?"

"I enjoy fruits fresh from the trees. Ah, also, one time long ago, I had a delectable dish called Soufglre …alas, I am unable to recreate it, though I have tried many times."

"Goddesses! You have such a refined palate for a wilderness boy."

Sheik thought she might be blushing, but surely Luke couldn't see.

Luke went forward to pick up a blade in a sheath, with a light blue blade. Seeing it reminded Sheik of the Master Sword (though it was quite different looking) and the mistakes she'd made about it, but at the same time, it also brought her hope for the future.

_That boy, Link, would save them. Just three years more…_

"This was my father's," he said fondly. "It was given to him by the king, when the war was over. I was too young to remember, but he did treasure it."

The idea that her father had given it to Luke's father made her instantly fond of the weapon, as well. _Really, they were such a good…_

After Luke showed him some things, he went to eat with his mother. Sheik stayed behind and sat on his bed, feeling so strange to be in a home. On a bed. It had been years. It smelled like Luke in the room, an amalgamated smell she couldn't really place. Slightly like the trees, slightly fresh like soap, and slightly like the male Hylian body. She enjoyed inhaling it, pulling the cover from her nose just momentarily to get a better whiff.

When he came back, he noted the same thing about the bed.

"Hey, lie back, take a break. You don't have to be worried, for now. The sun is almost set. We can leave soon, if you'd like."

He closed the door, so it was open just a crack, then sat on the floor, smiling up at him.

Goddesses, now she was blushing for sure. She was finding it difficult to keep her façade and composure up. She was in a room, alone, with a rather attractive boy. She felt strange, because even though she'd lied to him about her age, she was still young. He was four years older than she was. He was an adult, and she was a child, though she felt intellectually equal to him. She instinctively sat up straighter, placing her hands in her lap, as she had once been taught to do elegantly, as a princess. Then she slouched, realizing she'd done so.

He stood and sat beside her.

Goddesses, she didn't feel like a boy. How could she be sitting there, looking like a boy, tricking him into thinking she was a boy, when she wanted so badly to just be a girl and show him who she really was?

He started an innocent conversation, like the ones they always had, and she carefully answered, to be sure that the _girl_ wasn't leaking through. That _Zelda_ was not there. _Not even a whisper of her._ She knew it was a mistake to stay here, to come here with him. She felt relieved that she soon lapsed comfortably back into their routine.

He laughed at something she'd said, then fell back on the bed. On a whim, she did the same, lying next to him. Maybe he was surprised. Was that even something boys would do? Would they ever, just as friends, lie beside one another as they chatted? If he did think it strange, he gave no indication. In fact, it seemed as though he was embracing it. He turned to smile at Sheik, giving her a goofy grin.

She wasn't sure how, but lying there on that comfortable, warm, real bed, night flew into her eyes, and she remembered no more.

* * *

Until the moment she woke. The house was dark. She'd been lying on her side, but she jumped up as soon as she was conscious. Her eyes blinked in the dimness, and she saw Luke lying there. He had been lying on his side, just as she had been. And the bed was rather small. They had been…close.

Her hands flew to the coverings on her face, which had shifted down. Did he know? Did the spy boy figure out her secret? She pulled them up, fixing them around her head.

Or…did he not know? Did he still do the things he did, knowing she was a boy?

Either way, it was heartbreaking to her. He either thought she was something she wasn't, or knew exactly what she was and what she had been desperately hiding.

This was still a bad idea.

He was waking then. Blinking in the dark, just as she had, and looked up to where Sheik stood, eyes wide.

"Oh…Sheik…sorry, I guess I fell asleep too," he said with a grin, though his insides were racing. So that hadn't been a dream…the boy _had_ fallen asleep beside him, so close to his arms…

"I have to go," he said in a hoarse voice, turning to the door. Luke's smile faded as he hopped up, following the rushing Sheik.

"Wait! I'll see you home."

"It is not necessary."

"No, Sheik, I'll come!" He was already stuffing his boots on his feet, pulling his cloak from where it hung. Sheik sighed. Did he not feel awkward?

He did somewhat. But somehow he didn't.

He looked outside, seeing nothing but the usually calm night Kakariko usually had. They snuck out, behind the houses and out to the forest, which would connect to anyplace Sheik needed to go. He followed her for a bit as they carefully made their way through the dark.

She stopped after a while, not looking at him.

"You should return now, Luke."

There was a strange feeling in his gut. He didn't want Sheik to leave. He somehow felt that after this strange break in their schedule, which had been both frightening and exhilarating, something was going to be different. He wanted to go to the smaller boy, but something intangible held him away. "Travel safely, Sheik."

She nodded. She was gone through the trees.

He stood there for a while more, pondering his life.

* * *

I had been right. Things did change. The next day, I carefully searched for Sheik in any place I'd seen him, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, but also not seeing him. I tried very hard to not take it personally, as most of me knew it was because of the threat we had encountered the day before. Not because he didn't want to see me. But then, I wondered, why did it feel that way?

Then, after a week went by, I had an entirely different idea. The idea that something had gone wrong. Sheik was smart. Sheik would let me know, at least, that he was fine, instead of making me worry. I prayed to the goddesses unlike I had before. I didn't want anything to happen to Sheik. That was all I wanted. He didn't deserve it.

My mother even noticed I was not myself for those days. We generally tried not to hide such things, as a family, and she thought it was best that we talk about him, rather than avoiding the subject of him.

"He was very interesting," she said one day. "He seemed so…"

"What?" I asked, trying to get her to finish her thought.

"Oh, please do not take this the wrong way, but I kept imagining what was beneath that covering. It's like he's trying to cover up something. I think he's a girl underneath all that!" she joked.

I laughed heartily. I didn't think that for a second. "Ma, you're crazy. Sheik is a boy."

_Sheik was a boy._ I had to admit he was feminine, but I thought it was just because of him looking young, as a Sheikah.

Right?

* * *

I went to search in the forest again. I was going nowhere. Something in me refused to give up, but something also already had. But then I felt it, that tiny displacement of air that rushed into me. I saw him.

He breathed deeply, but not heavily.

"Sheik!" I cried, smiling, beyond happy. "How are you? Are you all right?"

"Luke, I have come to tell you something important," he said, ignoring my questions.

"All right, but you're well, right?"

"Yes, Luke."

"What is it? Sheik, I was so fearful that they'd found you…"

"No, they have not, however, Luke, it is not safe for me…to continue meeting you."

"I know, Sheik," I said sadly. But I knew this. I knew all of this. Why did I still feel as though I could change it?

"Luke, this means ever. I cannot risk it. I cannot endanger the princess again. Perhaps this means more than you shall ever know, but I cannot. Impa knows that I was somewhere I shouldn't have been, and she had grown protective. I am not even supposed to be here. It was difficult to slip away from her."

I nodded, feeling choked up. We couldn't just meet once in a while? Just catch up, say "hello, how are you?" It didn't have to be much, but Sheik wouldn't even give that much.

"So I must say good bye. Soon Impa will realize I am missing."

"Sheik!" I cried, not believing this fate that I'd already known. _Why_? Not even for myself. I asked why for this boy, who had to live the way he did? Covered in shadows, hiding between trees?

"We will meet again, I promise. When this is all over, I will find you. I will meet you once more. Then I will show you who I really am, who I can really be."

I thought I knew who he was, though he hid so well. I thought I knew, but I didn't know a _thing_.

* * *

Luke stepped close to Sheik, boldly. Sheik froze. Luke placed his hand lightly on her cheek, over the white covers, staring straight into her rupee eyes.

"I will see you again, Sheik. Keep yourself safe."

Oh, how she wanted to hold out her arms, wrap them around him. Every bit of her body told her to do so, but she somehow resisted. Perhaps it was only the wisdom in her heart that held her back, that told her to do so would not be smart.

She didn't know how long she stood there, breathing through her lips, shuddering so minutely. He didn't move. She looked down, putting her hand over his for a moment before pulling it away. She took a step back.

"Not the Deku nuts!" he cried, laughing, but it was too late. He choked and sputtered for the millionth time.

When it was all clear, he felt strangely lighthearted.

With the optimism of his mother and the determinism of his father, he stood proudly and strongly. He would see Sheik again. He would see her again.

* * *

**Hello there darlings! I'm so sorry for taking so long to post—this chapter has been taking forever to write! When I wrote it I **_**totally**_** thought that it would be like maybe five or six pages, ten at the most. It said, "Nope! I'm gonna be 24 pages." O_O Anywayz, this is the only (I think) new, fresh chapter that will be in this rewrite of ASW. I wonder if my writing seems any different? Either way, I really really enjoyed writing about Luke and Zelda! I think I love their story. It's more naturalish. :D**

**A few notes! (you know I have to babble on about everything.)**

**On Sheik's gender: I know a lot of people think Sheik is technically and boy and a lot of people think she's still technically a girl. I am decidedly neutral on the subject (because I believe she is a **_**girl**_** whether she changes her body or not). So whatever you believe, this works. If you think she changes into a boy, then this takes place before she masters the ability to do so. If you think she stays a girl, then this also works. Teehee, don't think anyone really cares, it was just confusing to write about. So I try to avoid the subject.**

**On writing from different perspectives: I just have to mention, because for this I actually wrote from Luke's perspective for the first time (I think). Luke is not super difficult to write as, but I think the problem is that I sometimes feel like I'm writing as Meghan. Maybe because they are both OCs. :D Zelda/Sheik, for some reason, is easiest to write as. Link is by far the most difficult. I think I did it **_**once**_**? Probably failed. He's just…so **_**complicated**_**. He's smart, observant, thinks a lot. He's a quiet person, except around Meghan and that bunch, but no one can be quiet in their own head. So how do you relate that? I don't know. But that's OK because I don't intend to write from his perspective very often. I just do the omniscient thing.**

**On the title: Couldn't decide which sounded better. Originally it was "Double Hearted," then "Double Hearts," then "Double Heart." This is a play on the idea that Luke's heart likes both girls/guys. He likes both Sheik and eventually Zelda. Also, Zelda is kinda two people. IDK. :D**

**Some songs that the writing of this was kinda inspired by: **

"**I Like You" – Morrissey **

"**Ballad of the Goddess (Message from the Goddess version)" – from SS (luke's mommy sings this)**

"**Quiet in my town" - Civil Twilight (about poor Luke's daddy)**

"**The Sound of Silence" - Simon and Garfunkel (the end scene)**

"**My Heart is Broken" – Evanescence**

**Thanks for reading!**


	23. Remix: Day Six: Link, the Bad Boy

**Day Six**

Meghan woke. While still lying in the large bed, curled up on her side and cuddled in warm blankets, she looked around the bedroom. Her eyes strayed to the clock on the wall to the left, and she saw the time.

"9:03," she said to herself, both relieved that she had plenty of time to get dressed but disappointed that she still had nearly an hour before seeing Link. She sat up, the blanket still covering her legs. She pushed her hair back and finger combed the bedhead-ness. She blinked several time and rubbed her eyes, pushed the blanket back, and got out of the bed.

She slipped on a red shirt she found. It was long sleeved and plain, but comfortable. It was made of a soft, silky material, much like the shirts Link bought for her a long time ago. She put on a pair of beige pants.

After looking in the mirror for a few seconds, she thought, _We've been everywhere except Lake Hylia and with the Zoras. Ah, Ruto is today._

_Lake Hylia? _Did that mean they would get wet? This probably wouldn't do...so she changed and put on a red cardigan, and under that layered two off-white tank tops.

She combed her hair and decided to put it up, to avoid getting knots, again in case they got wet. "Yay!" she said and skipped to the door of the room, opening it. But then she froze, shock and scare running through her, causing her stomach to flip.

"Oh, you're here!" she said to the random person sitting on the couch, quietly. She felt herself grow hot, and if she could blush, she definitely would have.

_And Link was on her couch? What?_

She was speechless, silent, and embarrassed for a good while before her thoughts became coherent again. When did he even get here? Why was he here?

What the hell?

"Yeah," he said, giving her a stoic look. She looked at him, looked around the room, looked behind herself, and looked back at him.

She didn't know what to say for a few more moments. But she realized he was Link. He could do these kinds of things. And it wasn't a terrible thing that he was here. She just wondered _why_ he was there. Looking like the world was ending.

"What brings you to my lonely room, Link?" she asked from where she stood.

"The very thought of being lonely," Link answered seriously. His eyes were strangely empty. It was a bit awkward, she thought, both of them standing there, unsmiling.

"How long have you been here?"

"An hour or two." chyeahright.

"And you sat here awake for two hours?" she asked, in shock.

"I was lonely," he shrugged. She was beginning to think his blank expression was from tire.

"And so was I."

"Yeah. I kept you company."

"So seriously, you just sat here?"

"Yeah."

"Why wouldn't you wake me? I would have woken up." She felt it was an opportunity missed! They didn't exactly have that much time left…she felt a little sad.

"You were sleeping," he said, as though it was simple.

She rolled her eyes. "That's your reason?"

"Yeah."

"You are odd." She ventured to sit next to him, angling herself to face him.

"So what are we going to do today?"

She hugged a pillow from the couch to herself. "The only place we haven't been is Lake Hylia, and Zora's Domain, with the Zoras, and all that watery stuff."

"So I guess that will be where we go," he said sadly. It all seemed so sad. This was their last full day. _Possibly_…

"I wish it wasn't this way…" she said shakily.

"We should be thankful. Zelda could have decided it would be after two days, or one day. We're fortunate we got a week." _Though if we hadn't had a week, maybe it wouldn't be this hard…_

Yeah, Zelda this, Zelda that. Of course Zelda was justified in making this decision. Meghan just wished it hadn't involved herself. "What would you do if you had to make that decision?"

He thought, then said, "Please don't make me answer that question. That's not the way it is."

"But don't you ever wonder, 'what if?'"

"Sometimes, but not for things so important. I prefer to not think about it." He paused. "I know you're probably thinking this, but I just let destiny tell me what to do with these important things. I am a slave to destiny, really."

"Destiny's bitch," she said, laughing bitterly. "So you're not going to say?" she paused. "Because if it is a matter of hurting my feelings or anything, don't be afraid that it will."

"No, that's not why. I just couldn't say."

"You really won't?"

"No."

"So…" she said, dropping the subject. "You wanna leave?"

"Sure." They sat for a second longer, then Meghan stood up.

"I was about to find Zelda, but…"

"Do you want to see her?"

"No, I'm good." She didn't even remember what she was going to ask her. She was also going to try to eat breakfast even though she was confused about how to get breakfast. Did she go into the kitchen? She had no idea, so she just skipped it. *how unhealthyz*

"Can we go to Zora's domain?" she asked as they walked out.

"I guess so."

"One problem, though," Meghan said in front of Zelda's door, where they had walked. "I still have no idea how to get around the castle."

"Oh, yeah, that could be a problem…"

"Um…I think it was this way…" She pointed down a hall.

"I remember coming this way." He pointed down a different one.

"Uh, OK." She followed him. "Oh, yeah. This is right because I remember that." She pointed to a little statuette thing of the bird.

He looked at it again. "I don't know why, but I have this strange feeling when I look at that statue. I don't know if I've seen something like it before, but I get a feeling of nostalgia and…almost a feeling like I'm supposed to be flying on that bird's back."

"You're supposed to be flying on it? Do you have birds like that here?"

He shook his head, then smiled at her. "I don't know. It's…" He paused. "it's one of those feelings that I get, related to destiny and everything. It's difficult to explain."

"I guess I know what you're getting at. Even though I don't get destiny feelings."

He nodded.

"Oh, great. Any ideas?" They had reached a spot where there were three possible halls to go through.

"Not one," he responded. Meghan sighed.

"You know whenever we mention Zelda, she pops up?"

"Um…"

"Well, I sure wish Zelda were here right now!" Silence. "Darn it!"

"Oh well. We'll eventually find a way out."

"We just have to be careful who we run into."

"Why?"

"There's that Shina dude. I don't know if Zellie lets him in the castle, but we still need to be careful."

"Well, if we do see him, I will be sure that he does not cause trouble." He didn't know if the man would listen to him, but he had to try. Link had to admit diplomacy was not one of his fortes.

They followed the halls carefully, sometimes retracing their steps and going other ways, and down some stairs. When they were pretty sure they were close to the exit, Link suddenly grabbed Meghan and pulled her into a dark spot in the hall, behind a large statue of the former king, Zelda's father. She yelped, but he quickly put his hand over her mouth gently so she wouldn't say anything. He shook his head. She turned around to see, and he let go of her mouth. They saw _guess who_ walking down the hall with someone they didn't recognize, and couldn't see very well.

"It's becoming a problem," General Shina said, his tone hushed, but Link and Meghan could still hear.

"Yes, I think it would be best if we just stopped it." Meghan looked on as they walked in front of the statue.

"How do we do this? In the easiest way, I mean. We don't want any complications. We need to continue his vision." He stopped walking. The other guy stopped right where Meghan could see him.

"Start with her. Give her a clean cut." He took his index finger and traced it horizontally along his neck. They began to laugh. Meghan watched their backs as they walked again, and turned a corner. Link and Meghan waited a second, then walked out of their hiding spot.

"I wonder what that was about." Link asked, restraining himself from running and stopping them. He probably should have, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"I don't know, but it sounded like someone was in trouble. A girl, they said 'her.'"

"Yeah."

Meghan gasped. "You don't think they were talking about Zelda, do you?"

"Maybe. But Zelda will be OK. They couldn't do anything to her. She's far too powerful." He worried about anyone else, though.

"I hope so...what are you going to do?" she asked because he seemed ready to go after the two.

"Follow them," he said. So they did, and found the huge front foyer. Shina and the other man were leaving the building.

"Oh! Yes! It's the exit! Many minutes later!"

He'd heard them. Shina turned, near the steps down to the gardens. "You, again."

Link stood slightly in front of her, about to speak, but Meghan spoke first. "Oh, just shut up. I'm going to be here as much as I want. Just leave me the hell alone."

"I don't believe you have the authority to say such things to me. I am the leader of these forces. I can have soldiers do _anything_ to you...and it wouldn't be pleasant."

Meghan gasped in shock and anger. But before she could react, Link had drawn his sword and had it at Shina's neck. He put his face near Shina's and said in a low, threatening voice, "If you ever, _ever_ touch her, you'll have to answer to me. Who is it that's 'becoming a problem?' Whose vision are you continuing?"

The general, surprised, fumbled for his sword, but appeared too nervous and scared to pull it out. "Get…get off me!" he said. The person at his side made a move to get Link away, but Link simply stood to the side, taking the opportunity to grab the general's frail neck in his strong hand. Meghan took a step back, and didn't know what to do. She disliked Shina so badly, especially after that, but she didn't want Link to be like that, menacing and threatening. It made him seem…no better.

She heard a gasp from behind her. She turned and saw Zelda standing there, with Luke.

"Link!" Zelda said in shock.

"Princess!" Shina said, helplessly.

"Luke!" Meghan yelled, wanting him to be careful as he ran forward to separate Link and Shina.

"It's the girl," the guy next to Shina said in a murmur, and began to run. A blade glinted at his side as he drew it from a sheath.

But Meghan was closer now to Luke and Zelda. They could get to her faster.

"Luke!" Link growled, beckoning towards the other man, Shina's companion.

Luke, whose original goal was to break Link away from Shina, quickly changed his direction and rapidly drew his own sword. He used the flat of the blade and held it in front of the man's stomach.

"Try to move, and I will slit," he spoke in a slightly less scary tone than Link's, stopping the man inches from Meghan.

Meghan had no idea what to do. She felt frozen in place.

"Meghan, come here, quickly," Zelda said, also moving forward and pushing Meghan behind herself. "Link, Luke, lower your swords please." Luke immediately did. Link, however, took this chance to make sure Shina was scared out of his wits. He gave him a deadly glare he knew Shina would not mess with. He said something in whispered, spat Hylian that Meghan didn't understand. Shina fell to his knees. Link replaced his sword. She wondered what kinds of threatening things Link was capable of uttering. She couldn't imagine he _was_ capable of such things.

"What happened?" Zelda asked her quietly, not taking her eyes off the offenders, nor the boys (many years younger) that were guarding them.

"We heard them talking in the hallway about, like, hurting someone, so we followed them. They saw us and Shina, like, said something kinda threatening…so Link like…" She shrugged, figuring the rest would explain itself.

Zelda listened patiently, and when Meghan was finished, she said, "I see." She walked to where Link was standing. Shina looked rather scared, no doubt knowing who this was that had thwarted his plans.

Luke was guarding the other man so he would not run. That man had a malevolent, yet angered look on his younger face.

"Link, would you please step back?" She gently touched his arm. He turned toward Zelda and Meghan, and Meghan saw how he also stared hollowly ahead, like his eyes had…changed. Then he seemed to come back into reality.

"Zelda?"

"Link, please step back. I want to speak to General Shina."

Link walked to Meghan. "What…happened to him?" he asked Meghan.

Meghan stared with her mouth open, and her eyes wide. "You don't…_remember_?"

He looked down, searching his brain, then his eyes looked around. "I…"

"He got really…scared of..." She didn't know how to explain...what? Did he really forget or not realize he had just threatened the man's life? Not that he didn't deserve it, but…

"Shina, are you all right?" Zelda asked him, gently touching his shoulder. It surprised Meghan that she was so patient with someone who she disliked so much. "Shina." She helped him up. "Shina, I want you to know I'm disappointed in you." I am replacing you with Luke," she said loud enough for Luke, Meghan and Link to hear.

"Zelda!" Luke said, surprised.

"Luke?" she asked, as if he was questioning her authority.

"I cannot accept this responsibility! I am happy as spymaster."

"Luke, you are appointed," she said gravely, and everyone else thought there was some detail about her appointing him that no one but Zelda and Luke knew.

He sighed. "Understood." He felt nothing but the irony of the situation as he imagined how many times, for _years_, he had told himself that he knew more than Shina, would make a better general than him. He never actually thought it would happen.

"Am I understood, Shina?"

"Yes, princess," he choked, finally saying something. He turned and left.

"As for you, Fikel, you are also dismissed without further comment. And you two will be tried for lethal intentions." She sighed. "It was a deliberate attack on someone's life."

"But princess!" he sputtered.

"Don't argue with her. You won't get anywhere," Luke said firmly. "Zelda, what do you want me to do with them?" Zelda frowned.

"Anything, just don't put him in the dungeon. I have terrible memories of that place." She shuddered.

* * *

"Impa, what are they doing with her?" Zelda asked as a guard half dragged a weak girl past her. Her clothes were ripped, and her eyes were closed.

"Zelda, it is best we forget it. Come along, it is bed time." She took Zelda by the hand and continued walking down the hall, not allowing her to look. The little Zelda was persistent.

"Is that little girl going to play with the people in the dungeon? You said there were lots of people there. Are they friendly? Will they play with her? I don't want her to be alone. I can go play with her." Impa stopped walking and closed her eyes and sighed. She kneeled down to Zelda's height and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Please, Princess Zelda. Promise me you will never go down there. Promise you will never, ever."

"Why? I can go visit her. Then she won't be lonely, even if there are people down there." Zelda was convinced this was a good idea.

"_Never_, Zelda," Impa reinforced.

Zelda looked away. Then she looked back. "Impa?"

"Yes, Zelda?"

"_Never_?"

"Yes, _never_." Zelda looked into her eyes and slowly, slowly nodded. "Good. Come on, let's get changed."

When Zelda was in bed that night, she couldn't sleep. She wanted to know what was wrong with that girl, why she had to be taken away. So she got out of bed. She sneaked past Impa, who was at a desk within Zelda's room, writing. She quietly closed the door. Impa turned and looked to see what sound she had heard, but saw nothing. Impa turned back. Zelda couldn't sneak past her.

...Right?

Zelda snuck down the corridors, to where she saw the guards taking the girl. She opened the door, and walked into a very dark, dank hall. The floor was covered in dirt, making her little slippers filthy. The stone hall twisted, until she reached another door. She struggled to open it, a great, heavy, metal door.

She gasped as she saw what was in it. Lots of cells, filled with dirty people. They either slept on dirty cots, with nothing but a ripped, dirty blanket on each, or stood looking at her, gasping and recognizing her.

"Princess! Get me out of here and I'll get you as many dolls as you can dream of!"

"Princess! I love you! You have my loyalty!"

"Princess!

"Your Royal Highness!"

She heard calls from people inside, sticking out skinny, grimy hands. The ones calling woke up the sleeping ones, who in turn tried to touch her. She stood in the middle of the passageway, trying not to be touched. She realized this wasn't a good place. She was frightened, not thinking to turn back. She walked all the way to the end, each and every prisoner reaching towards her, except two. One was an old, old man; apparently too old to even care where he was. He was mostly naked, except a loincloth. She shivered at the sight. The other was the girl. She looked like a bright angel within the dank dungeon. Zelda smiled and ran to her cell.

"Hello! What's your name?"

The girl was sitting on the bed, playing with a hole in her clothes, tear stains on her face. The girl looked towards Zelda and smiled. She had long, light brown hair. Her blue eyes shone brightly, overjoyed that the princess would come see her.

"Hello, Your Highness." She stood and curtsied; using what little dress she had left. "It is an honor to meet you."

"What are you doing in here? What's your name?" the little Zelda asked. The girl was a few years older than herself.

"I…I…don't know. They told me I couldn't stay out by myself. But I haven't done anything wrong."

"No, I don't think so. What is your name?" Zelda put her little, pale hands on the grubby bars of the cell.

"My name, Princess?"

"Yes."

"I'm…I'm Sierace."

"Hi Sierace! My name is Zelda."

"I knew that." Sierace walked over to bars. "You are the princess."

"Oh yeah! You wanna play? I have to go sleep now, but maybe in the morning." Zelda sighed. "I'm not allowed to play with many children, but I think it will be all right since you are already here."

"They told me I have to stay in here. I don't want to get in trouble."

"Don't worry. You can come out with me!"

"I can't. I'm locked in, anyway."

"Where are the keys?"

"The guard has them," Sierace responded with wide eyes.

"Oh. I'm sure I can open this." She put her hand out and looked at the lock. "Impa has been teaching me. I think I can do some magic."

"Oh, Princess! You shouldn't! I'll get in trouble! And you might, too." Zelda looked up, her hand still there.

"Please call me Zelda. I like it much more than princess. Princess sounds weird. It sounds too much like prince, but I don't think boys and girls should be treated differently or called different things." She looked down at the lock, concentrated hard, stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, and tried to open it. After some time, she finally did. She opened it.

"Zelda, I can't." Sierace looked around. Others in cells were still calling to Zelda.

"No, you haven't been bad. I want you out. Come on." She took the girl's hand and ran to the exit, ignoring the other's hands.

"But I'll get in trouble!"

"No you won't." They ran through the halls to Zelda's room. Zelda opened the door quickly.

"Zelda!" Impa cried, getting up from her chair. "Sierace? What…"

"Impa, you know Sierace?"

"Impa!" Sierace cried, wanting to run to her.

Impa held back. "I'm sorry, Sierace."

"What? Impa?" Sierace asked. "You said you would come to get me, but Zelda has come first."

"Let's not worry about that right now. Zelda, why did you go there? Why?"

"Because Sierace was lonely, Impa. I know she was. It did not look like the place for a little girl!"

"But…"

"Impa, she needs new clothes. Do any of mine fit her?"

"Zelda…" Impa said, not sure what to do. If she hid this girl here, she could be in trouble. But Sierace…this girl, she could not leave her. Her family was too caught up in things that Zelda couldn't yet understand. Impa's only option had been to allow the girl to be imprisoned, so Impa could later free her and send her far away. "I'm sure you have something." She went into Zelda's bedroom, and opened the wardrobe. She pulled out a nightgown that was too big for Zelda. It would just fit Sierace.

"Impa, I'm sorry."

"Impa, how do you know Sierace?" Zelda asked eagerly. She jumped up and down near Impa.

"Oh, Zelda. Your clothes are all dirty. Come on, you two, let's wash up." Impa picked up Zelda and brought her to the bathroom. She took off Zelda's nightgown and put her in the bathtub.

"Impa, how do you know her?" Sierace opened her mouth to speak, but Impa silenced her.

"Zelda…there are problems with this country that you are too young to understand. For now, we will send Sierace away, so she is safe."

* * *

"Zelda?" Zelda suddenly looked up. Luke had just woken her out of her thoughts. "Zelda, are you OK?"

"Oh, yes, yes. Um, lock them in a spare room if you must."

"Right. Come on, get going." Luke led them back inside, guards (quite eagerly) coming to his aid. Meghan walked over to Zelda.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I just need to…go…" She saw Meghan's worried look. "But do not be bothered with me. I just need to figure this out. I must send out a notice of Luke's appointment, set up a trial…" She faded away while listing things to do, as though she was committing them to memory.

"Zelda, please don't…kill that guy."

"Oh, I wouldn't allow it." Zelda was serious.

"Because even though he attempted to do something, he didn't do it."

"Yes, you're right. So where are you going today?" Zelda changed the subject quickly. Link walked over once he was sure Shina had been safely taken away.

"We were going to see Ruto today," Meghan responded.

"Oh, right. She is the last." They nodded. "Well, you go have fun!" She smiled.

"Thanks, Zelda," Link said. Zelda opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it, smiled, and nodded.

"I'll see you later." She was worried about Link, but she knew she couldn't stop him…

"Bye…" Meghan said, reluctant to leave…with him…

"Bye," Link said. They turned and walked away. Zelda watched them leave partly, but turned and ran to the castle to find Luke.

Zelda found him on the second floor.

"I put him in the storeroom over th—" But Zelda had thrown her arms around him, shocking him, and hugging him tight. "Zelda?" he asked as he heard little sobs.

"Luke, I can't do this! I don't think I'll ever make it!

"Don't say that. Zelda, you'll be fine."

"But Luke, this is only a few days in, and I'm already falling apart!" Luke separated himself from her, and took both her hands in his.

"Zelda. Remember this. You are not alone. You have many friends to help you. You have Link. You have Meghan. And you can always, _always_ count on me to be here. And above all, anything you do is better than what it would have been. You are saving this country."

"Thank you Luke." She buried her face in his shoulder. He gently rocked her back and forth, feeling a feeling he associated with his old memories, strange things drawn up from his insides into his consciousness. How familiar she seemed…

* * *

Meghan walked a bit away from Link as they followed the paths to town. Why had he gotten like that, so threatening and dark? Why the heck could he not remember what he did?

She must have seemed unhappy, because Link asked, "Meghan, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she said quietly.

"What is the matter? You don't _look_ good."

Meghan made a small noise, like she couldn't make up her mind. "Link, do you really, really want to know why Shina was so scared?" She stopped walking. "Do you really not remember?"

"I suppose…something is just…I feel like I got angry, like I wanted to…" He couldn't finish. He just remembered Shina kneeling on the ground, his sword out.

"Don't get angry at me, but it _was_…because of you."

"What did I do? And why would I be angry at you?"

"Link, I don't know why, but you got all…like, protective and sorta threatened him. Then Zelda came, and seemed to, like, bring you back to reality. It wasn't _you_. And that dude with Shina…from before in the hallway…tried to do something, hurt someone, but Luke stopped him."

"Someone tried to hurt you," he said in surprise. His eyes went wide and alert. What had happened? He didn't really recall any of this…it was all fuzzy. He remembered Shina threatening her. He couldn't understand why. What was wrong with him?

"Yeah. Well, we think he was. He had a…never mind." But she was scared to continue. She didn't know what he would do.

"No, really. I want to know what happened. That man tried to hurt someone? Was it you? Or Zelda?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded, then shrugged. "I don't know which."

"What did I do? Tell me. I…feel so strange. I don't know why I cannot recall what happened."

"You just, like, took out your sword and threatened him. You said stuff in Hylian so I don't know what you were saying."

"And…now you're scared of me, aren't you."

"No! I would never be scared of you."

"Then why do you walk all the way over there?"

"Is it against the law?"

"No. I'm sorry…I honestly, truly don't even remember."

"It was so…scary. You just seemed...menacing...but it's OK! …I think."

He looked shocked with himself. "Meghan, if I ever do that again, don't be afraid to tell me." He honestly couldn't believe himself. Was she really telling the truth? But somewhere inside himself, he knew it was totally true.

"Yes."

"And…and I don't ever want to…" he faded away. "So if I ever do that again…get away from me."

"I couldn't," she said, staring at him. "Link, I know you would never hurt…me…no matter what state you were in."

"Still…"

"No. I'll stand with you…because we made a promise, remember?" He nodded, sighing deeply, staring straight into her. "Now…maybe we can just forget that and go have fun? No more thinking about it, OK? No more mentioning it."

"Yes." He pushed it away. _Smile_. "Well, then, c'mon!" They ran out of the town. Once in the field, Link and Meghan stopped.

"Let's go this way. Then we can go to Zora's Domain." She pointed down the little river, knowing what it led to, but she'd never actually gone all the way in.

"OK." They went over the bridge, and then jogged behind the river, down the path. Once they were at Zora's River, they went to the bean plant.

"If we take this, it will be a lot faster."

"What…is it?" It was a levitating leaf. It seemed to be emitting some kind of extraterrestrial UFO hovering noise.

"It will transport us," he said with a smile, gesturing toward the rest of the river, which was blocked off by a gate.

"OK..." She would never stop wondering about this place.

"I planted this as a kid," he said, fondly remembering the chomping, chubby man that sold it to him. Charging him too much.

"Wow, that's crazy." Years ago for Meghan. What would she have been doing the moment he planted this? Maybe she would have been in school. Third grade. Maybe she was solving multiplication problems, learning vocabulary words, while he was here planting magical plants in order to save the world. And he'd done it, but for him, those seven years were mere months ago.

"We can step on it. You just have to be ready to jump off at the end. It won't wait." They hopped on the floating plant at the same time. But as it lifted, Meghan nearly lost her balance. As she swayed, Link caught her around her waist and pulled her closer to himself.

"Careful."

"Thanks." She didn't look down since it was scary, but she avoided awkwardly acknowledging the fact that he was touching her by noting her surroundings. Her waist tingled where he kept a good grip on her. _G__et off me_…she thought, wanting him to just let go. There were weird swirly feelings in her gut. She didn't think she liked them. But still…

"Meghan, get ready to jump…" He let go of her as they landed.

When they were in front of the waterfall, Link played Zelda's Lullaby, and they jumped over the gap into the waterfall.

"Oh! It's so pretty!" she exclaimed, walking in. "I've never been here!"

"That's right! You haven't. Well, then let me show you around." He led her to the shop. "That's the shop keeper."

"Hi!" Meghan said, and he waved his fin-like hand. "And if we go this way…" They walked up to where King Zora was. "Then we see King Zora. We have to stand here to talk to him."

"Hello, Your Majesty!" Meghan said. He didn't respond. "_Is he sleeping_?" She whispered.

"Er…maybe…"

"Oh. Darn."

"Well, there are still more people!" He led her to Zora's Fountain. "Here is where Lord Jabu Jabu would be…if he was here."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, actually. Maybe it was too cold for him."

"Yeah, it's pretty cold here. I didn't bring my coat, silly me." She pulled the cardigan tightly around herself and crossed her arms.

"Coat?"

"I mean…cloak…finish the tour!"

"Oh, yeah. That is ice over there…" He pointed to some ice formations.

"Oh, hi ice!" she waved frantically.

"I wonder where Ruto is."

"I have no idea. You're the Zora's Domain expert."

"Oh, well. We'll find her somewhere."

"Link, have you ever gone skating?" Meghan asked after a second.

"Not really."

"You don't know what you're missing! Too bad, though. We don't have skates, but shoes work fine!"

"But-"

"No buts! Let's skate!" She ran back inside, all the way down to where the shop was, then down farther onto the ice. When Meghan first stepped on it, she slid around a little. But soon she found her balance and skated forward. "Weee!" Link had stepped onto the ice, but was merely watching Meghan slide around. She moved her arms about, as though dancing, joyfully. "Come on, Mr. Hylian!" She went behind him and pushed him. He slid forward. "I'm not going to stop until you are enjoying yourself! Co—"

"OK." He turned around swiftly and caught her hands, which were just about to push him again. Since he was close, his eyes stared straight through her own. _They were…_

"_We_ will enjoy ourselves," he said in a low voice. He skated backwards, still holding her hands. She trailed along for the free ride and closed her eyes, again feeling that weird tingling. She still didn't know what to think about it, so she drifted off to other thoughts.

_The only reason he went crazy like that before was because he was protecting me. Though his actions were violent, he really only had noble intentions…I have to forget about that. I feel so sorry for him…he doesn't remember? Wow…_

She opened her eyes and looked into his face…into his eyes…those hypnotizing eyes.

She caught herself and looked away, focusing on a spot on his shoulder. After a few seconds, Meghan let go suddenly. This surprised him, as he slid back a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"It's cold..." She didn't look at him. "Can we go swimming?" She looked up cheerfully.

"Huh?" He wasn't sure why she had just changed her tone like that. _It's Meghan. I should expect these things…_ "OK."

"Can we teleport?"

"OK." He pulled out the ocarina and played the Serenade of Water.

"Yay! We get to go swimming!" she said. "OK! But I cannot go swimming in this stupid shirt!" She kicked off her shoes and her bare feet squished in the grass. She made a move to pull the cardigan off. Link quickly looked the other way, embarrassed to see her pull it off and to see what she was wearing underneath. The tank top was white and frilly, but the one underneath was an off-white. They both fit to her form, strangely unlike the loose clothing she typically wore. When he ventured a look, he noticed her deceptively tall frame (she only looked tall because of the way the clothes flattered her body), completely clothed in whites and off-whites, and it made her look like a fairy, a feathery goddess.

Thus resulting in mad blushing.

"I will race you to the temple!" She jumped in the water, without second thought. It was warm, just right. "Link, do you think you're going to swim with all that stuff?" she said after she surfaced. Dripping wet, she pulled herself back onto the land, pools of water falling from her clothes. "Evil wet clothes." The pants had grown heavy and she had to hike them back up as she got out of the water. She flicked her hair at him, splashing him. She laughed, but he didn't. "Hello, are you awake?" He just stared at her, his mouth slightly open, as if surprised. The wet clothes stuck to her frame. Her wet hair was over her shoulder. "Yo. Take it off." She went to him and poked the sword. "Off off off…" she poked it madly.

"Right," he finally said, taking off the sword and leaving them near the teleport platform thing.

"Okie dokie! Come on!" She pulled him. "Go go!"

"Hold on!" he said.

"Fine. I'm going! I'll be there when you're ready to join me."

She jumped back in the water and swam as far as she could hold her breath. She came back up, inhaling and looking back at him. He was just watching her, crouched at the edge of the grass. She went under again, coming up right near the stone thingy above the frozen entrance to Zora's Domain. She climbed on top of it.

"_Dude, he never stares into thin air like that. He's so detached today. Then again, we all are_…" she whispered to herself. "Come on!" she shouted to him. He seemed to nod (she couldn't see him well since she was far) and dove in. He swam all the way to her, taking no breath, because of the Zora Tunic.

He appeared right in front of the platform and put his arms on the top, his body still in the water, staring up at her. He looked...

"Hi," she said, sitting down. The water came up to her stomach and the gentle waves swayed her around.

"Hi." He pulled himself up next to her.

"I wanna go back in the water!" She stood and he followed.

"OK." He grinned and pushed her in, slowly and deliberately so she expected it. She sputtered and coughed, splashing her arms.

"Hey! That wasn't nice!"

"Sorry!" He jumped in next to her, making a big splash. "But you said you wanted to go in."

"I was perfectly capable of going in by myself, thank you." She beamed. "But since I'm in, and you're in…" She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him in the water. "Take that!" she said to herself, swimming around the side of him. She didn't get very far. He had grabbed her leg. "Get off!" she said, keeping herself floating with her arms, but kicking her right foot so he would let go.

"No!"

"Don't make me hurt you!"

"Hollow threats. Go ahead." He knew she wouldn't do anything. And she didn't. But she did something else.

She pulled off his hat.

"Give it back!" he yelled. She had gotten him!

"Nuh-uh," she teased, swimming away as fast as she could. Of course, he followed her. She was a good swimmer, but he could keep up and overtake her easily. He grabbed the hat from her hand and swam the opposite direction. He fit his hat back on his head angrily.

"Are you angry?"

"_My_ hat." He smirked.

"OK. Your hat."

"No, _my_ hat."

"OK, _my_ hat." She giggled, attempting to grab it again, but he evaded her. He swam to the shore. "Are you running away from me?" she called.

"No."

"Then why did you run away?"

"Because." He shook himself like a dog, to amuse her, turning his head back to her to smirk. She giggled more.

"You're annoying!" she shouted gleefully.

"And you're twice as annoying."

"Thanks!" she said enthusiastically. "Well, I'd love to chat, but I'm gonna go swim!"

"You do that," he said, turning his back to her and looking at something towards the entrance/exit to the lake.

"Something wrong?" she called.

"No." He turned his head towards her.

"Whatcha looking at?" She swam to the shore and got out of the water.

"Nothing," he said quietly, shifting a bit uncomfortably.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

He smiled. "Yes, I'm fine." He took a deep breath then slowly exhaled.

"Well, that's good. We shouldn't be all mope-y today!"

_Please, take your own advice…_ "Yeah." He turned back around. "Are you going back in?"

"If you do," she said.

"Go ahead, I'll be right there."

"Are you sure? It's not fun if I'm just going to be alone." _What is he doing…? I don't want to swim by myself._

He sat down in the grass, cross-legged, still dripping water from his clothes, arranging his shirt carefully.

"Yes, go."

She smiled, sighed, and skipped back to the lake, taking glances back at him.

_Yeah. Go. Just don't…go tomorrow…_he thought desperately. It seemed every moment, the thought grew heavier...

She stood with her feet in the water, facing him. He smiled, then looked down, not watching her._ Think of something else._ She made a face, then whimsically pranced further in, splashing water about. She continued in, finally stopping when the water was up to her waist. She stopped and stared at something near the Water Temple, lost in her own thoughts, worrying about him.

(You _must_ listen to "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessional at this point. ;) It is _imperative_.)

He looked up. Her dark hair seemed black when wet. Through the crystal clear water, her skin seemed milky, smooth, unreal…

He _couldn't take it anymore…_

His heart was pounding, his stomach flipping, but courage was in his very soul. He stood, walking to her, finding his way into the water behind her as she cupped water in her hands, let it fall back to the lake with a tiny splash. She either didn't hear him, or knew it was him so didn't turn around. He heard her heavy sigh. Either way, it worked for him.

Link seized her by the waist, hands under the water. She was surprised and turned to look at him. He brought his head near her own. His hands felt so warm on her body...and the way her skin gently curved over her bones was extremely enticing to him.

His face was so close to hers…

_So let me slip away…_

His eyes looked into her own.

_So let me slip away…_

"Link?" she asked, before forgetting everything except those big, blue, conflicted eyes. She knew, in her mind, what this was…and her first instinct was to _run_. She started breathing quickly when he looked down at…

His face was mere inches from her own. Growing closer. It was like slow motion to her…

His nose touched her own. She felt his breath on her face, giving her goosebumps and shivers all over her body. Her stomach flipped and her breath caught. He felt her tense up, tremble a bit.

"Link! Oh, Link!"

Meghan jerked her head back and slipped out of his grasp. She looked back at Link, wide eyed and shocked. He seemed to be feeling the same, and the two just stared at each other for a few seconds.

_What…was that? Um…he tried to…_

Then she realized to whom the voice belonged. The voice was high-pitched, yet smooth and eloquent. Meghan looked to where it had come from. She saw two Zoras swimming toward her.

"Ruto!" she said, seeing the familiar Zora head above the water. There was another Zora with her, and she had a shy expression on her face. She trailed behind Ruto, in the water.

"Hi!" Meghan said. Ruto nodded, and her companion waved. _I didn't know there were more Zoras…_

Ruto swam right past Meghan, making a beeline for Link. Who was just standing there, looking rather broken.

"Oh Link! Finally, finally we can be together!" she said, grabbing his hands and turning in a circle with him. "Now nothing can stand in our way!"

"Something already did," he said seriously, carefully pushing her hands away. Did she not just see that...?

"Whatever would that be?" she asked sternly, even though she knew.

"Ruto, you're a sage. It will not work."

"Oh," she looked away and let go. "Right." She seemed genuinely sad.

Link touched her arm gently. "We can still be friends."

"Yes! Yes, we can be best friends!"

"OK…"

"Great!"

* * *

"Hi…" Meghan said awkwardly to the other Zora. They were left facing each other, but no one introduced them.

"Hi, my name is Kazana."

"Yo. I'm Meghan."

She nodded eagerly. "I've been waiting to meet you, Meghan! The Princess, Ruto, told me about you!"

"Oh, right." Meghan wondered what Ruto could have said about her. She didn't really know Ruto well.

"Why did you come here? I find you fascinating. I always found Hylians fascinating. You are even more so."

"Well, I didn't exactly choose to come here…uh, I'm glad you have such an interest in me!" Kinda right maybe sure whatever.

"All right. Would you like some fish? It's really good. It's Ruto's favorite. That's why I have it. Fish? Yes, no?"

"Um, no thanks…I'm not hungry at the moment." Meghan didn't even eat fish…and thought it was kinda weird that fish people ate fish.

"Maybe later?"

"Maybe…"

"Want to play a game? It's a fun game!" Kazana tilted her head to one side.

"Um…I think we should save Link first."

"Oh! Right! Princess! Princess Ruto!" Ruto, who was chasing Link, turned and looked at Kazana.

"Yes?" she asked irritably, in Hylian. Meghan understood that word.

"Let's play the game!" Kazana responded in Hylian.

"Oh yes! Come on, Link! We _must_!"

"No…" he whined in Hylian, turning around.

But Ruto had grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the water. "Please, Link?

"No, I don't want to play..."

Damn it, damn it, _damn it…_

_What a moment wasted._

* * *

**Teeehee, I swear to the goddesses, this is my _absolute_ _favorite_ chapter in the entire story because of _that_ _one_ scene. :D :D :D Every time I read over it I'm like _squeeeeee_. But I'm so glad I finally got to this chapter. I had to ask my boyfriend a lot about how he first decided he wanted to attempt what Linky was attempting because I was really trying to understand Link's mindset, ya know? I still don't understand completely how one decides to be the one to kiss another for the first time, it just sounds so scary. (Actually to be honest, my situation was quite similar to this story...completely coincidental even though this story came first. XD) Changed the cutoff for the chapter from the original version so that my favorite scene is a bit more prominent. :) Thanks for reading! (Also sorry for the long time it took to update! :( )**


	24. Remix: Day VI Part II: Fishtastic Love

_What a moment wasted._

* * *

"Come. On," Ruto said firmly. Meghan was curious about the game, and wanted to tell him to come, but didn't feel like…well, going anywhere near him. Instead, she went underwater as he drew closer, ending up behind Kazana. When she came up, Link was in the shallow part of the water where he could stand. She followed Kazana to them. _My stomach is in complete knots…_

"So what game is it?" she asked Kazana.

"It's called…it's called…um…what would it translate to? Do you know, Ruto?"

"I'm not sure how to translate it."

"All right. Yes, we'll just call it…a game. So, this is what we do. One person will be 'that person,' for a lack of a better translation. The others will go underwater. The people underwater cannot surface until one is caught, or they lose. The 'that person' must find a way to bring the others to the surface. One way or another."

"But…I can't hold my breath for that long!" Meghan cried.

"I suppose you'll have to be the 'that person' then," Ruto said sanctimoniously.

"OK…" she said, although she was not wild about the idea of having to catch two Zoras…and possibly a _rabid_ Hylian…_Ha, rabid. That's a good one…_

"You guys ready?" Kazana asked. Ruto nodded, taking Link's hand. Link looked at her with an annoyed look, and nodded ever so slightly. He untangled his hand. Meghan stared at Kazana…then finally nodded. "Good! All right, start!" The two of them dove under water around Meghan, while Link lingered for a moment, catching her eye again, looking somber, before Ruto tugged him under. She saw them go all the way down to the bottom…there was no way she could go there without running out of breath!

She decided the easiest way to look for them was on top of the Water Temple. She lay down on her stomach and searched for one of them. She saw a Zora, though she was not sure which. She wasn't looking at Meghan, so Meghan tried to slip into the water as quietly as she could. She slid down on her stomach into the water.

"BlOOFblub!" was what came from her mouth as she went in the water.

"Hey!" A bubbly sound came. Ruto had spotted her, and was swimming away. Meghan tried to catch her, forgetting about running out of air as she tried to see Ruto in the water. It was so _unfair_, she was determined to do it anyway. The water stung her eyes.

Her lungs started crying for air, and she hadn't gotten far. She swam up as fast as she could, her lungs pleading, even though it was still a far way away. She hadn't even realized how far she'd gone. Or maybe it just seemed far. She kicked, even though she felt as though she was slowing down. Then she stopped kicking so crazily, and started just floating up, closing her eyes. _Whatever…_she felt light-headed. _I'll get there eventually…just bear the uncomfortable feeling…_

Then she felt an arm, wrapping around her, the other swimming upward. She opened her eyes, looking at his face, which was looking upward instead of at her.

"Don't talk," he said, and to her surprise, she understood his bubbly talk. Finally she reached the surface.

"Aah!" She breathed deeply and quickly. Link didn't let go of her, making sure she was all right. She wished he would go away, but he didn't. Of course he didn't. She felt awkward. She felt like something was unfinished. And she totally didn't even need his help.

"You win," he said, looking into the water, searching halfheartedly for the Zoras. Well, he was out anyway.

"Uh…" she replied, unsure of him. She felt self conscious, his arm once again around her. He realized this and opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. She carefully pushed away from him.

Then, after a moment of awkward silence, he said, "Meghan...I'm sorry if I…offended you or anything, or if you felt...if I...before…I mean, you…know. I don't know…what happened…I just…" he faded away. He was really struggling.

"Um…that's OK…I…think."

"Still friends?" he asked hopefully, making fun of Ruto.

"Best friends," she said, taking his hand and shaking it. She was still wary of him though. Would he…try it…again? _Did she want him to?_

"We should find them," he said, "to tell them that you won."

"Erm…"

"Or I will find them," he said dejectedly, "I forgot you can't stay underwater for too long."

"I can still help."

"No, it's OK. I won't take that long." And he dove down. She turned and swam to the top of the water temple, the little island.

She sat there, looking in the water, for any sign of Link, Ruto, or Kazana.

"Meghan!" Kazana said. The Zora pulled herself onto the land and walked to Meghan. She sat down with her feet in the water. "Did you win? Who did you catch? It wasn't Ruto, was it?"

"No."

"Link?"

"Yeah. Only he cheated for me."

"Oh. Well, it's just a stupid, little game, isn't it? It doesn't really matter."

"Mm-mm." She wondered how Link was doing, trying to catch a Zora who was hell bent on marrying him.

"You know, I wish Princess Ruto would stop chasing after Link and trying to marry him." Meghan nodded her approval. "I don't like it. You see, Ruto and I have been…friends since we were young. But my family is one of the last surviving families. My father is a Zora merchant; he works in and owns the Zora Shop. I think Ruto should marry my brother. He is smart and would be good for her. And he's not ugly, either. He's three years older than me."

Did she just call Link ugly? Lol. "So he would be good for her?"

"I think so."

"Have you asked him about it?"

"No. But I know he wouldn't think it's a bad idea. He thinks she's cute."

"Really? What does your brother look like?" Then she realized that that was a completely pointless question to ask. She wouldn't know a good-looking Zora from a bad looking one.

"Well, he's tall, taller than Ruto, and..."

Meghan laughed. "Never mind."

"In fact, I should go get him. Wanna come? I can introduce you to my mom!"

"Um…" She looked back into the water. She didn't want to leave without telling Link…but… "Sure."

"Good! Come on!" She dove into the water. "Oh, wait. We need to go down to the temple. Can you get down there?"

"Um, I'm not sure." Meaning no.

"Oh. Wait! Wait here! I'll be back!" She dove under and out of Meghan's sight. She hoped Kazana came back before Link did; it would be awkward trying to tell him what they were going to do.

Luckily, Kazana returned before he did. She got out of the water with something behind her back.

"Ta da!" she said, pulling out a soggy Zora Tunic. "I got it from my dad. You can borrow it!"

"Cool!" Now she wouldn't have to worry about having to go underwater. She struggled to slip it on over the clothes she was wearing. She expected to feel different, but she felt the same. Except for the fact that now she had a different shirt on, over her tank tops. It was blue, just like Link's. _Yuck. Ah, well. I wear blue jeans, don't I?_

"OK, then. Let's go!" Kazana made a graceful leap into the water. Meghan followed (not so gracefully). As soon as she entered the water, her whole body tingled. She stopped swimming down for a second, her legs and arms feeling a bit numb. But, to her surprise, she could breathe! She inhaled a bit of…water! And it was cold…the water went in her lungs, rushing around…it was the oddest experience! She couldn't believe it…but what would happen when she got out? And that temperature must not have been good for her alveoli. She didn't want to think of any long-term consequences. But it was probably magic. It was _probably_ all right. Bleh, sometimes she didn't like how they couldn't scientifically explain this magic stuff.

"Kazana?" she asked, catching up to the Zora girl. She surprised herself. Her voice sounded odd underwater. Kind of like she was talking on a phone. "Where are we going?" Kazana was standing in front of the entrance to the Water Temple.

"In here!" she said, going in. Meghan swam after her.

The inside was very different than what she expected…she had never been there. It was beautiful, though. The water reflected on the walls, making them look like they were dancing. The climate was humid and warm, like a tropical island. Kazana waited for Meghan right at the entrance, then dove in the water. No monsters plagued it. She dove to a door on the bottom floor. Kazana and Meghan entered it, and then had to swim back up again.

They came in a room that looked very much like a home. A Zora home, that is. What she would think a Zora home would look like. Strange chairs were in front of her. They were a blue color, the color of the lake, and matched the walls of the temple. She wasn't sure what they were made of though…they looked like plastic. But there was no plastic here. She thought she should tell the Hylians about plastic, since plastic is awesome and everything.

Kazana went around to a door. She gestured to Meghan excitedly. Meghan snuck over to the door. She heard…guitar music?

Kazana knocked on the door. "Mayano! Mayo! Open up the door!" Meghan had to hold back her laughter.

"What do you want?" she heard an exasperated cry from inside, the playing subsiding into intermittently plucked chords. "I'm busy!"

"Mayo, we need you to come so we can…well, just come!" She heard a clonking noise, then footsteps. A second later, the door was open, and a tall Zora boy came to the doorway. In his right hand, he held a fishy guitar that looked like it was made of the bones of a fish, and the left hand held the silver doorknob.

"What, Kaz?"

"We need you to come with us!"

Mayano looked at them. Meghan felt odd…and if it was wrong to say this, she didn't care, but she honestly thought he was cute. For a Zora. His fishy "hair" stuff was slightly long, kinda wavy. He obviously had no shirt on…and WOW. Meghan felt _**so awkwarded out**_by her attraction to a fish. She briefly wondered if she was being racist or something. Because Link was technically a different species, but she didn't feel awkward thinking he was ho—

_Wait a second…no…_

"_Why_? Why should I?"

Kazana clucked. "Cause you need to!" she said, taking the guitar with one hand, and pushing him with her other hand. She set the guitar in the doorway, and pulled him out. "Remember Ruto?"

"Ruto?" he said, with an instant dreamy expression. "I remember Ruto."

"Good, because that's who we're going to see." She pulled him back to the water. There was like a hole in the floor, only it was filled with water. That was where they had come from.

"Kazzy?" an older feminine voice asked. Meghan turned and looked to see who it was. "Where are you two up to?" A Zora came into view. She looked like a mother fish. She was wider than her children, and the fish skin was not as vibrantly colored as Mayano and Kazana's.

"Going to play with Ruto, mom!" Kazana said excitedly.

"May-May going too?" she asked warmly.

"Mom, stop calling us that! Oh, and this is Meghan! Meghan, this is our mom, Lima."

"No!" she said in surprise. "Sacred Realms, really?"

"It's the truth!" Kazana said. Lima made her way to Meghan, looking her in the eyes. She grabbed Meghan's hands with her moist, fishy ones, and her eyes started to tear.

"My goddesses…you…thank you…" she said wholeheartedly.

Meghan looked bewildered. "Uh…"

"You…you helped everyone! You made it so the Zora can be safe!"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't. I didn't do anything, it was all Link. I did nothing, really."

"I'm sure that's not true." She let go of Meghan's hands, still looking at her. "The Goddesses know that you have helped. The Goddesses will repay you for your kindness. Goddesses bless you, child." She was starting to remind Meghan of one of those Christianity-obsessed mothers. "You children go have fun."

"Thank you, Mrs…"

"Lima! Just call me Lima. Kazzy, May-May, be back before dinner!" She smiled brightly.

"Sure, bye ma!"

Kazana and Mayo leaped into the water, and Meghan followed. They swam back down, then up again and exited the temple.

Once they had surfaced, they searched for Link and Ruto. They seemed to have disappeared…

"All right, all right, while they're not around, here's the plan! We need to make Ruto feel left out. I'll go talk to Link, while Meghan talks to you." She looked at Mayo. "We can't let her in on our conversations, so if she comes close, walk away. We can't let either Link, or Ruto know. They'd mess it up."

"Here, here." Meghan agreed comically. Kazana seemed to know Ruto's personality really well.

"When I say 'break up,' we must break away. Mayo, go talk to Link, and I'll talk to Meghan. But don't make big conversations. So she can come to choose. Ready, guys?"

"I finally get to have Ruto like me! You sure it will work, Kaz?"

"Yeah."

"One question. Where _are_ the fiancée and fiancé?" Meghan asked.

"That's a good question."

"They're engaged?" Mayo yelled in distress, looking around wildly. "Who dares take my sweet Ruto?"

"Technically…they are, but against Link's will, yeah. But that's what this is for. To break them up!"

"Haha! I feel so evil!" Kazana commented.

They all did some collective evil laughter.

"It's for both of their good. Mostly Link's…" Meghan noted. "So, I guess we have to find them. Where could they be?"

"Knowing Ruto…anywhere," Kazana said unhelpfully.

"This will not be a pleasant search."

"Indeed."

"Where do we start?" Mayo asked.

"Um…do you think Ruto would have brought him as far as Zora's Domain?" Meghan asked Kazana.

"Yeah. I do."

"…K…so should we go look?"

"Split up. Mayo, you search the lake here. I'll go to the Domain. Meghan, you stay here with Mayo and scout the surface."

"All right…"

"Let's go!" They started to separate.

"Wait!" Meghan yelled. Mayo stopped mid-step and looked back, placing his foot down. "Look!" She pointed in the water. Sure enough, there was Link and Ruto. Link was swimming away from her, turning back every few seconds and saying something. Ruto glided along, not really putting much effort into her swimming. Every time she caught up to him, she reached out her arms and placed them on his upper arms.

"Execute the plan now!"

Mayo jumped in the water, and Kazana followed.

"Wait! What do I do?" Meghan stood there for a second looking about, and then went in the water. The first thing she saw was Mayo, stopping Ruto from swimming. Link was still swimming away, but Kazana caught him. They both pulled them to the surface. Kazana dragged Link to the shore, and Mayo dragged Ruto.

"Mayano?" Ruto asked Mayo. He didn't respond, but pulled her on the land. Meghan followed, and prepared to carry out the plan. Kazana was already talking to Link, who was very confused. Maybe they should tell him? Nah. Mayo let go of Ruto and made his way to Meghan.

"So…what…how are you lately…? Um…"

"I'm fine, how are you, Meghan?"

"Good. Thanks." Meghan saw Ruto from the corner of her eye. She was obviously upset that no one paid attention to her.

"Break up…" she heard Kazana say faintly, smoothly within a sentence. She caught her eye, and walked towards her. Mayo walked toward Link.

"It's working great." Kazana said to Meghan. "Ruto is taking the bait, now we just have to watch." Ruto looked longingly at both Link and Mayo.

The whole point was to get Ruto jealous, and if they were right, she would pick one. And probably that one would be Mayo. Just common sense…

Ruto looked from Link to Mayo. Then Mayo to Link.

"Oh Mayo! I love you!" she said, throwing herself at Mayo. "I always have, you're so…so for _me_!"

"Ha…ha…ha…" Mayo said, in a daze. Ruto put her arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly.

"Yes, now we can be together, for always! Always, and ever!"

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Kazana asked Meghan. "My brother. In love. And to think he never steps away from his guitar for more than an hour."

"Yeah." Meghan nodded a lot. "Awesome." Fast love…

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Um, Meghan, what just happened?" Link asked, walking towards Meghan. He noticed her Zora Tunic, which was baggy on her and still dripping, but didn't comment.

"We saved you," Meghan said quietly, winking. Link looked shocked.

"Thank you," he said, as though it were a big deal. Kazana had tears in her eyes.

"It's all so beautiful…" she whispered, looking at everyone. "Life is beautiful…" And Meghan watched as Kazana's brother took Ruto into his arms and kissed her on the lips…well, fishy lips. Meghan was really glad that Link was standing with his back towards them…that would have been too weird if he'd seen.

"Come on! Let's swim!" Kazana said, breaking up the moment. Meghan happily followed her into the water, Ruto following, and then the two boys.

Suddenly Meghan felt purged of all bad from that day…all that had happened…all the trouble…all Link's actions, all of her own…they seemed to be far in the past. She splashed into the warm water, Link behind her. "Hi," she said as she turned around.

"Hey," he said.

"What's up?"

"Nothing…why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. Hey, let's forget everything and go swimming! Come on, isn't that why we came? Look! Kazana let me borrow a Zora Tunic, so I can go underwater now!" She splashed to his side and took his hand, unabashed, and pulled him underwater. And since they could both breathe, Meghan swam all the way to the bottom.

"You can breathe!" he said.

"Yeah!"

"Awesome." Haha, she found it funny when he said awesome. He almost sounded almost American. It was funny how easily she had influenced him.

"And I can talk too!"

"More awesome."

Meghan swirled around in the water, trying to stay down by stroking upward. She turned when she heard some noise in the water. When she turned around, she recognized the Iron Boots on Link. He took her hand so she wouldn't have to worry about floating anymore, holding her down. "It's fun being able to breathe here. I'm still trying to figure out how we are talking, but you know. It must be magic."

"It is," he said, laughing a watery, bubbly laugh. Being so close to him, she could feel the water being pushed from his mouth as he spoke. Yeah, the water got in her mouth, but she was inhaling it, so it wasn't that gross or anything…_but there are cootiesssssssssssssszzzomg._

"Any idea what time it is?"

"No," he responded. "Must be somewhere between 13:00 and 15:00."

"That late?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Do you think we should get out? Oh, and I think I may shrivel up like a prune if I stay down here for much longer. And I still have no idea how we're talking."

"What's a prune?"

"It's a fruit. A disgusting tasting fruit."

"OK…" He laughed.

* * *

**Herro, thanks for reading. I love you. :3**


	25. Remix:Day VI Part III:We'll Know Someone

"Come on." She swam up. "Let's go fishing!" She went as fast as she could to the little spot with the fishing person. She pulled herself up there, and then turned around, waiting for Link. He was a bit behind her. When he finally caught up, she ran and opened the door. He caught it from her and held it while she went in. (Aw, so sweet!)

"Hiya!" came the exuberant welcome from the dude, in Hylian. He rushed from behind the counter and stood in front of them, barely inside the room yet. "Are you going to fish?"

"Um…" Meghan said, turning to glance at Link for a translation.

"Yes, we will. She does not speak Hylian, sorry."

"All right! That will be twenty rupees…unless you want two rods, then it's forty…"

"One. Please," Meghan said. He scratched his armpit. Meghan made a face while he wasn't looking, to Link. _Ewwwww_!

"All right!" He ran back behind the counter and bent down, picking out a rod. He came back up and they walked over. "You guys know how to fish?"

"Yes," Link said.

"Oh, that's right! You caught this fish here! You're my best angler!" he scratched his armpit. Meghan winced. "Well, go fish! What are you waiting for? Catch me another big one!"

"OK! OK! OK!" Meghan said, grabbing the rod from Link and running towards the water. "Go, go fishing rod! I choose you!" She brought it up over her head and then downward, forcefully. The funny part was…nothing happened. She grinned, embarrassed. "Ah…whoops…guess I don't know how to fish."

Link walked over. "I can teach you!"

"Right! Please, teach me!"

She was quite surprised when he went behind her, and put his arms around her to get to the fishing pole. She immediately pulled herself inward, embarrassed and self conscious. Wasn't the guy at the counter _watching_? He put her hands on the right spots and told her how to do it, moving her hands with his own as he pulled it back and cast it.

"Good job!" he said gently in her ear.

"But I didn't do it!" she said, [suppressing a shudder…]

"Yes, you did. Try it without my help." He let go. Meghan took a moment to get her heartbeat in order, and reeled it back in and did the same thing he did. It was surprisingly easy, now that she knew what she was doing. "Good!" She rested on one foot, leaning to the side while waiting for a fish to come.

**Ten Minutes Later in a Different Spot…**

"Gaah! Boring! I can't take this anymore!" She thrust the rod back at Link with a smile. "_You_ catch a fish!" She stood back and crossed her arms. She hadn't gotten anything, and was beginning to get impatient. Not that she had been there very long. Yet, it seemed so…long...and boring. She began to regret coming here.

"Fine." He took it, and within a minute, had a small fish.

"Looks like five pounds!" The guy called from his spot behind the counter.

"What? Why can't I ever catch a fish? They hate me!" Not that she really wanted to catch one. If she didn't know that the Hylians just put the fish back and didn't kill them, she wouldn't fish at all. She thought it was inhumane, murder.

"It's probably because they sense that you are impatient. Relax." He threw the fish back into the water and walked over to Meghan, setting the rod on the ground. "You need to let them know you have no intentions of hurting them." She nodded. He put his hand on her shoulder, an odd thing to do, Meghan decided, especially considering what he tried to do before. This was like he was mentoring a little friend. "And you need to be patient. They'll come when they decide to come." She nodded again. He picked up the rod, and handed it to her. "Try again."

"OK." She went to the water's edge, and cast it again. After a few minutes, she groaned. "They still hate me!"

"You have to relax," he said, going behind her again, though she tried to turn to face him, gently putting his hands on her back. "They can sense it…_I can too…_" he whispered. He traced his hands down her arms, sending shivers and tickles up her. His hands weren't cold—no, they weren't at all. They were actually warm, but…

She still shivered. She half expected him to do something…but this was more what she expected than before. She was freaking out. This was making her uncomfortable. She felt like she was having heart palpitations. _Oh goddesses…why is he petting me?_

Suddenly, she felt a jerk.

"Aaah! Fish!" She reeled in the thing, pulling, pulling, and pulling…

"Come on!" he cheered, moving to her side.

"Aaaah! Evil fish!" She had it so close…

"Come on! Pull!"

"I am!" She pulled it out of the water!

"Good job!"

"Looks like two pounds!"

Meghan laughed. "All that work for nothing. Oh well." She tossed it back in. "You wouldn't be too horribly displeased if I said that I wanted to go, would you, Link?"

"Not at all."

"Can we go?"

"Sure. Just have to bring this back." Link took the rod from her, and brought it back to the guy.

"What? You're leaving? But I never get any customers!"

She did feel bad…she couldn't imagine too many people came around here to fish. "Here," Meghan said, dumping some rupees onto his desk. "This one is Mr. Bob," she pointed to a red rupee, then to a purple one, "and this is Mrs. Bobbett. These are your most loyal customers now." The guy stared at her. "Bye bye!"

"Uh…bye? Wait!"

Meghan closed the door behind her, and ran outside, doing a cannonball into the water. "Weee!"

**-~- Two hours later...**

"Guys, I think I should go start to help my mother make dinner." Kazana said to the rest of them. She turned to Mayo. "Hey, Mayo, are you going to be there? Or should I tell mom you have plans?" She snickered a bit.

"Could you do that?" Mayo asked, holding Ruto's hand.

"Mayo, that was sarcasm. But sure anyway." Kazana said, slightly disappointed.

"Come on, Mayo. Let's go…" Ruto said to Mayo, pulling his hand.

"Good bye, Ruto!" Meghan said.

"Bye, girly!" Ruto responded.

Link walked to her. "Good bye, Sage Ruto." Gosh, he never stopped being like that. But it never got old.

Ruto stood tall and straight, looking Link in the eye. "I wish the world of fortune upon you, Link. Our hero."

He nodded solemnly.

"Let's go, Mayo!" Mayo nodded. Ruto used her magic to teleport, and then they were gone, leaving Meghan and Link with Kazana.

"We'll see you, Kazana," Meghan said. Kazana nodded. Meghan really liked Kazana. She felt like Kazana was very similar to herself. She hoped they would have a chance to hang out more.

"Bye!" Link said.

"Bye! I'll see you again soon!"

"I hope so!" Kazana moved into the water. She swam for a bit, then surfaced. "Oh, yeah! Call me Kaz! All my best friends did!" She went under again, and disappeared.

* * *

"_All my best friends did!"_ were the words that lingered in Meghan's mind. _That's so sad…that means that her friends must…have…_

"Meghan, ready to go?"

"Where to?"

"I don't know…wherever."

"I was thinking we could…go…a lot of places. Everywhere…"

He hadn't been able to stop the falling feeling in his heart the entire day. Nothing could break him out of this terrible depression. And this wasn't helping. She wanted to say goodbye to everything. He knew it. She must have seen his feelings in his face, though he tried not to show them.

"Do you…not want to?" she asked

"It's OK. I want to, too. Let's go. I just have to get my things."

"Oh yeah! Me too." She walked across the bridge to the spot over the Water Temple, picking up her backpack and red cardigan. Link picked up his sword. "Wait!"

"What?"

"Meghan wants to see something!" she said, referring to herself in third person.

"What would you like to see?"

"Sword," was her one word answer.

"What do you want to see about my sword?"

"Fun." She hopped over to him, lifting the sword from his hands. "I wanna see how heavy it is."

"Wait, hold on!" he said as she almost fell forward. He grabbed it from her hands. "Why…"

"Because," she said.

She shook her hair from her face, which was dry because it hadn't gone in the water for some time now, and was starting to fall out of its ponytail.

"OK. Now what do I do?"

"Whatever you feel like doing."

"'K."

"What are you doing? Wh-" but she interrupted him by swinging his sword while still in his hands and stopping it by his neck. She had herself close, almost up against him.

"Meghan! You should let go, it's too heavy."

"No I can't. I don't trust you. Do something about it!" She was smiling. _Goddesses, how could she still always smile? _

"OK." He used his left hand and grabbed her wrist. Then he put his hand around her waist, twisting her around, and her arm, so that her back was to him. He held her arm behind her back, pulling her wrist up, all while holding his own sword in his other hand.

"Hey!" Had he pulled any harder, her arm would start to hurt. Pull enough, and he could have seriously did some damage… "I get it!"

"I didn't expect this to work."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that because you tend to favor me and did not intend to hurt me, your threat lost its purpose. You were easy to move and manipulate."

"You sounded actually smart there, for a second." He made a face. "Just getting even. You know I'm kidding."

"Of course. But one day I will be able to use my full strength with you." He finally let go of her.

Even now he seemed strong. She didn't believe that he would ever be able to. She remembered when he'd fought Twinrova, and she did indeed realize that he was full of strength, strength he could release at his own will. He would probably always be like this too. Nothing could _really_ touch him. He remained silent and merely looked at her.

"Hey, Link?"

"Yes?" There was a pause.

Meghan flopped on the ground. "I'm tired." She dropped to the floor and lay on her back.

"OK. Come on…" he sat next to her, dropping his sword on the floor…making a huge clatter sound.

"Clumsy…"

"Sorry." He interlaced his fingers behind his head and lay back beside her on the ground. They stared up into the sky.

"I could stay here forever."

"So could I."

"The sky is so beautiful." And it was true. The sun was off to the side, not too bright, but warm. She could feel its warmth on her face, and a small breeze refreshed her worn out body.

"Yes," he agreed, looking up into it as well.

"Weren't we going to go somewhere?" she asked, loathing moving.

"Does it matter?" he asked with a sigh.

"I guess not." She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply the moist lake air around her. She could feel the grass, hear the birds, and taste the beauty...

It was a wonderful feeling.

Link had also closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had just sat somewhere and closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirp…feel the wind blow…

What a perfect feeling marred by such terrible feelings.

* * *

"We'll get up on the count of three," she said some time later, after she had turned onto her stomach. She said the sun would change the color of her skin, make it darker. He was so confused by this. He wondered if it would really work. Maybe his sun didn't do that, or maybe it was a human thing.

"OK."

"One."

"One."

"Two."

"Two."

"Three!"

"Three." But neither of them got up. Meghan did open her eyes, though, turning her head toward him.

"That was very ineffective," he commented.

"Yeah."

"Three!" But neither of them got up again. Finally, Link had the courage to move. He sat up with difficulty.

"Come on." He held his hand out to Meghan, who had rolled back around, and pulled her into a sitting position. Then they got up.

"That took a lot of effort. But now I feel..." she stopped.

"What? What's the matter?"

"I feel sad," she said quietly, looking up into his eyes.

"Why? No, don't feel sad!" Ugh, she just _had_ to start him on the sadness all over again.

"Because I don't want to _go_! And it's so sad knowing that that moment will never come again, I can never relive any second."

"Not entirely true!" he said. _In our memories?_

"For you, maybe. But for me, it's _completely_ true." She sighed deeply. "But I guess…it doesn't matter!" she said, returning to her normal self. "Come on! Do you think Malon will let me see Galaxy? I wanna!"

"Why not? Let's go get him." They ran toward the exit of the lake. Meghan climbed the ladder first, followed by Link.

When they reached the ranch, Meghan ran as fast as she could inside. She first ran to the paddock, to see if Galaxy was there.

"Malon!" Meghan said, seeing Malon grooming a horse in a corner, humming Epona's Song. "Hi!"

"Hello there, Meghan! Hello, Link!"

"Good evening," he said in Hylian. "Malon, we were wondering if we could borrow Galaxy again," Link asked for Meghan in English.

"Of course! You know you can. He's around here somewhere." She looked out to where most of the horses were. "Oh! There he is!" Meghan went forward to get him. Galaxy looked up at her from his grazing position.

"Hi, boy!" she said softly. Galaxy nickered his hello. "How are you?" Galaxy sniffed her outstretched hand. "Hey, do you want to come with me?" Galaxy walked toward her. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Meghan, his tack is in the tack room."

"Thanks, I'll get it!" Meghan walked over to the stables, and entered the side door. Inside were many saddles, each hanging on their own thing. Each saddle was labeled with a silver plaque on the wall near it. She walked until she saw a new, shiny plate with something written on it. Too bad it was in Hylian…but she knew that saddle had to be his because she'd seen it before, and the plate was obviously new. Galaxy had just gotten his name, so it fit. She removed the saddle from its hanging thing and bridle from its hook on the wall right next to it and carried them back outside.

If you've ever carried a saddle, you know it's heavy. But Meghan wasn't really thinking of its weight as she lugged it back to Galaxy. She stopped at Link on the way.

"Hey Link...how can I write Galaxy in Hylian? Does it have a character like this?" She set the saddle on the floor for a sec, drawing the character in the air for him.

He laughed, following her finger. "Yeah, that's 'ga,'" he said in his beautiful Hylian accent.

"OK, good. I was just making sure this was the right saddle. It looked like it anyway. Thanks!" She picked up the saddle and skipped a few feet to Galaxy.

"Hey, boy! Stay still for a sec, OK?" She fit the saddle right on his withers, attaching the girth to one side and then going to the other to attach it to the buckle on the other side. She tightened it really tight. Next, she quickly removed the halter and slipped on the bridle.

Finally she was done. She led the beauty over to Link. Link had gotten Epona while she was getting Galaxy ready, so he was waiting with her.

"Ready?"

"Yup," she answered. She pulled herself onto Galaxy's back, as Link did the same with Epona. "Thank you, Malon! Bye bye! See you soon!"

"Bye! Have fun with him!"

"Where should we go first?" Link asked as they left the ranch atop their horses.

"I don't know…I want to go everywhere, but we really don't have that much time."

"Of course we do. We have plenty of time," he said warmly.

"Let's go…"

"Let's see the Gerudos," he said.

"No!"

"I knew you'd say that. But come on, we can't just skip over them." he sighed. "They'd like to see you. And…well…"

"What?" she asked, wondering why he was struggling to say something. He didn't answer. "Can't we go see the Gorons or something?" She liked the Gerudos as much as the next crazy feminist, but…

"Meghan, you know…tomorrow…we don't know what's going to happen. Maybe we are going to return to being children. And even though all these people will be here, even though I'll still know them, they won't remember us. Things will be different, life will take a different course. When we're this age again, nothing will be like this. Even though you'll be here," he lied, "any decision we make will branch life out on a different course. For example, Goron Link will not be named Link. There might not even be a Goron Link. We will not know those Gerudo girls, or Nabooru. We won't know the Gorons, we won't know Luke. We can meet them again, but nothing will be the same. That's why, in a way, we both have to say goodbye.

"But if that doesn't happen, you might be sent back to your world, and we'll never see each other again, after all this and how close we've grown. You'll never see these places again, while I'll be stuck in a ghost world that won't feel real. That is also why we must say goodbye.

"Or, what cruel destinies these goddesses place upon us, I may kill you with my own hands. My own actions, trying to save this country, they could kill you. In that case, we both have to say good bye because neither of us would live past tomorrow. I couldn't live with myself if I killed an innocent girl. I would never want to hurt you."

At least, that's all what he wanted to say. He didn't actually.

"Let's just go," he said with a sigh. He couldn't upset her…he didn't even want to tell her all the things he was thinking. Did she even realize that if something terrible happened to her, it would be his fault? If she realized, would she hate him? Would she feel bitter because he wasn't do anything to ensure her safety, that he was just going along with what Zelda had told him to do (as usual), even if it might not be the best course of action?

"Fine. Come on Galaxy! Let's not waste any time!"

Meghan and Link pushed their steeds into gallops. Meghan pulled her hair down while riding, sure that it was messy enough from swimming that whatever she did to it wouldn't make a difference anymore.

Sometime later, they arrived at the Valley. They crossed the little bridge thing, which gave Meghan some trouble because Galaxy didn't want to go over it, then the big one.

They arrived in the fortress area and saw Narma on duty right there.

"Hi!" Narma screamed, running over to meet Meghan. "How _have_ you been, dear?"

"I'm fine, how are you, Narma?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine. This is my new post! I used to be up there," she pointed to the top of the fortress, "And hardly got anything to do. But now here, I'm catching people like crazy!"

"You really get that many people here?"

"Yeah, a lot of men thinking they can get us to like them. Ha! Fat chance! So what brings you here?"

"Um…" she said. "Nothing, really. Just saying hi." Narma seemed to notice that Link was there now. Narma smiled at him.

She turned back to Meghan. "Did you come to see Nabooru, Meghan?"

"No..."

"Because I don't think she's here. I think she went to do something important."

"I wasn't exactly looking for her, it's OK. I just wanted to see you guys for a bit."

"I can tell her when she comes back…"

"I really wasn't looking for her, it's OK!"

"All right, then! Hey, do you want to come inside? I can get somebody else to watch my post. I'm in good favor with Nabooru, so I can do practically whatever I want!"

"No, I think we were just saying hi. I'd like to see the other girls."

"Oh, you mean Tamay, Shada, and Kiku? They should be around here. There's Kiku! Maybe all of us can go do something. You don't have anything to do, right? I mean, he can come too. It'll be fun."

"I'm just dropping by. I have to go somewhere, but maybe another time. I'll go see Kiku now, OK?"

"All right...well I'm holding you to that!"

"See you later. Congrats on your promotion, and keep up the good work! You're really great." She started backing away, toward Kiku.

"I know, we should show you how to dance like a Gerudo!" She waggled her hips around a bit. "Sounds fun, yes? How about tomorrow?"

_Ugh…tomorrow…_

"I'm really sorry Narma, but I _definitely_ have something important to do tomorrow, as well."

"All right, well then _Sunday_! I'm _serious_! We'll come find you! Well, I actually don't know where you live. Do you live in Kakariko?"

"Narma, I'll let you know!" She definitely avoided telling her that Sunday was her birthday.

"Yeah, but where do you live?"

"Oh…well I live…in the castle now."

"In the _castle_! Oh woman! That's too bad. I was too young to learn to steal from the castle, back when it was…not under evil control."

OK, so Narma was one of those friends that _won't take your crap_ and excuses for not hanging out. Oh well. Meghan actually _didn't_ have time to. As terrible as it probably sounded, she wanted to spend as much time with...well…not them, really…

She finally got to Kiku.

"_Meghan_!" Kiku yelled, running to her, weapon outstretched. She was laughing. "Haha! Caught you! No seriously, how are you? What brings you here?"

And so Meghan had the same conversation with all of the girls, each trying to get her (them) to stay, but Meghan kept having to decline. Shada was the last they got to.

"Yeah, we're going to go."

"Oh, but you only just arrived!" she cried. "Don't make me arrest you!"

"No, we were here for a while, seeing the others. We're so sneaky that you didn't see us, though."

"Darn! No, you're joking. There's no way you could have sneaked past me. Well, I'll see you two!"

"Bye!"

"Bye!" They left. Meghan quickly mounted Galaxy and rode off in the opposite direction. Once they were back in the valley, she turned her head towards Link like something from _The Exorcist_. "Link. I told you!"

"I know! But..." He wanted to say his reasons, but at the same time had to stick to his unspoken "don't acknowledge tomorrow is going to happen" policy. Maybe if he didn't mention it, today would last forever. "Where to next?"

"Gorons! Or…maybe?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Cool! I really do like the Gorons, they're so nice. Come on Galaxy! WEEE!" They rode all the way across the field, which took about half an hour.

"Wait, don't you think we should look around Kakariko Village first, and then go up there?"

"Right. Yeah." Meghan ran up the steps after leaving Galaxy. Link followed right behind.

"Hi again, Kakariko!" she yelled to nothing. "How are you?"

"Kakariko says its fine," Link answered, with a grin. Meghan giggled.

"Well, Kakariko, what shall I do here?"

"You should let Link buy you that necklace you liked so much." Meghan made a false angry face at him, crossing her arms.

"No. Kakariko. You're wrong. I shouldn't."

"Yes, you should."

"No."

"Yes."

"Never listen to a town, Link! They're evil! Don't know what they're talking about."

"OK. I won't listen to you. Come on Kakariko; let's go buy it. Meghan says not to listen to her."

"No! What? Wait, what? Please don't!" But he kept walking. "Link! Don't! No! Please! Please? Pretty please? No!" She ran after him. She grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "No!"

"Yes," he said, removing her hand with little effort.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're just showing off." He stopped. "You just want me to be impressed by how much money you have. You're no different than those shallow guys from home. Well, I'm not so easily impressed by material things." OK, so maybe she would be, but only if it was _really_ meaningful.

"What?"

"Show. Off."

"No…"

"Yeah. Really. And you _know_ it!"

"You think I'm a show off?"

"Yeah."

"You really think I am?" he said, walking closer to her.

"Yeah," she said, not backing away. He looked over her in that threatening-yet-it's-not-supposed-to-scare-you-eyes-squinty way. They looked into each other's eyes menacingly before breaking into a fit of laughter.

"OK, OK. You got me."

"Yeah, I better have. You weren't going to buy that if it was the last thing I did."

His smile faded as he looked toward her. "Don't say that, come on. It's not that big of a problem, and you know it."

"But I still don't _want_ it."

"OK," he said, in a disbelieving way. She didn't get his hint of disbelieving.

"Good." She sniffed.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, my nose is just running a bit."

"Oh."

"I'll see you, Kakariko." Meghan waved to nothing in the middle of the town, halfway up some of the steps. "Before I leak, let's go see the Gorons."

"OK." Link and Meghan ran up the stairs, up more stairs, then through the no longer functional gate to Death Mountain. They joked about their last experience with the Gorons while going up the mountain. Meghan remembered how weird Darunia was when she played Saria's Song, and Link remembered the weird bowling thing.

"Look! Gorons!" Meghan said when they entered Goron City. All the ones who heard her turned her way. She became very unlike herself and shouted to all of them, "Hi! You remember me, right? Well I just wanted to say hi!" Link smiled beside her.

"Hi!" some of them said in their bubbly, Goron voices. Others didn't hear her. She spotted Gordley (she thought).

"Hello!" he said to her, sitting up. "Do you want to hear another joke?" Meghan was about to decline, but changed her mind.

"OK."

"Why did the fairy seek help?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"It needed help! Boy, wasn't that a good one!"

Meghan laughed once. "Eh-heh. That was great! Did you make that one too?"

"Yes! Yes I did."

"Great. It was nice hearing it from you." She tilted her head to the side, smiling fondly at the crazy Goron. "We'll see you, Gordley."

"All right. Bye!"

"Bye, Gordley," Link said.

Meghan and Link quickly walked away.

"That was pretty...bad," she said under her breath to him.

"I agree..."

"Wow. Let's say hi to all the others!" Meghan walked to the first Goron she saw. "Hi! What's your name?" It told her something she didn't quite understand. "That's so cool! Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Hey! What's-oh!" It was Goron Link! "Good to see you Link!"

"Hi Meghan! Hi Link! Oh! Cool! Hi! I didn't expect you to come here!"

"Sorry. We just came unannounced!"

"Oh, well. My dad's not here right now. But you can come play with me! Or do you want me to introduce you to everyone?"

"OK." Meghan and Link said at the same time.

"Awesome! Come on! This is Gordley…"

"We know him."

"Right." Link introduced them to all the Gorons around. "And this is the shop keeper," he said finally.

"Wow. That's a lot of Gorons."

"Yes. But I know them all, because one day I will be their Big Brother!"

"Yes. And you'll…be a good brother!" Meghan said. She wished she could see the day. Hoped she would.

"I hope so! I want to be as respected as my father!"

"I'm sure you will be."

"Yes, Link," Link agreed, "you will be the best. All you have to do is try hard, be fair, and be brave like your father."

"I will be! Thank you, Link. Thank you, Meghan."

"You're welcome," Link said. Goron Link beamed.

"Well…Link…I think we have to go." Both Links nodded. Meghan laughed. "Oh…right. Um, yes we do! Link…um…_Brother_ Link…I hope I see you again soon." Meghan leaned down for a hug. Ouch. _Remind me to never do that again…_she rubbed herself. Link kneeled down and put his hand on Link's shoulder.

"Take care of yourself. We'll see you." He felt a strange sadness, realizing the chance that this might be the last time he'd see his namesake, or at least his namesake actually _being_ his own namesake. Not that he felt it had been necessary to name the Goron after himself, but he was honored by the gesture and felt like the young Goron would grow to be a great leader.

Link (Goron Link) nodded slowly and solemnly.

"I really hope to see you again," he said, surprisingly. "Father told me what was going to happen. Well, he wasn't sure, but he said it's what all the sages were saying. They think that's what's going to happen." Meghan decided that this would be a good source for accurate information. Goron Link would tell them exactly what his dad said, and might not edit it according to their feelings, because he was so young. He probably wouldn't understand completely (not that Meghan did either, but at least she understood the concept of…_death_).

"What'd he say?"

"He said that they were not sure, but think Meghan might leave Hyrule. Maybe she'll find the goddesses." Meghan froze, staring into Link's (Hylian Link's) face, her stomach flipping. He averted his eyes and looked down. "It sounds exciting, to find the goddesses!"

"I see," Link said quietly. He forced a smile to the boy. "We'll see you, Link." Meghan didn't move, even as Link turned. He put his left arm around her back, grabbing her right hand with his. He guided her away from Link. When they were out of earshot of Link, Link said, "I'm sure he's just being dramatic. There's nothing to worry about. He's just a kid," he said, this, but he thought about it. Goron Link probably wouldn't tell them something that wasn't true. And the sages were not likely to be wrong.

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said quietly, untangling herself from him. She turned toward him. She was standing on a step higher than him, so their faces were even. "I'm worried about you." Link didn't know what to say. If he said "why?" then it would seem like he was ungrateful, or if he said "Don't be worried about me," he would seem too…wrong to say that. In truth, he _wanted_ someone to be worried about him. He had to go through this too! Sometimes he was sick of trying to be so strong for others. He was glad…

Luckily, he didn't have to say anything. "I'm worried…I know that I'm not the only one who will get hurt. I mean, I'm going to be right there with you, when you put the sword back, but _you're_ the one putting it back. I think I know you well enough to know that you are conflicted about it. And well…I don't know, but I'm here for you too."

He nodded. _Finally_…

"But please…I don't want to think about it." She turned and started to walk up the steps. "_Let's have fun…"_ she whispered. She pushed her hair behind her ear, and didn't even stop when she got to the top floor of the city. She didn't stop when she exited, either. The whole time, Link was right behind her. She walked quickly

"Meghan," he said finally, when she was walking down the path. "Please, stop for a moment."

She slowed, and then stopped. She didn't turn to look at him, though. He walked to her, then in front of her. She looked down at the ground. "No! We shouldn't think about it. Come on!" She contorted her face in something that mimicked a smile. She stepped to the side to get around him, but he took her by the arm.

At his touch, her heart fell. Her chest heaved with some half sob. Meghan sank to her knees. Link went down with her. She refused to cry, though. She didn't want to. She sniffed and blinked like trying to stop. She looked down at the ground. Link had one of his hands around her wrist, gently, and put the other around her back.

"I don't want to go back."

"You don't have to."

"But what if that's what happens?"

"I don't think it will." Optimism! Optimism!

"You think I'm going to die?"

"No…I think…you're going to…to stay with me, no matter what happens."

"So then where're _you_ going?" she asked quietly. "Where will you go after this whole mess? Link, you don't, like, deserve any of this. I probably do, but you don't. You deserve so much better." She looked at him. "You took this fate and you just let it do what it wanted. I can't let fate do shit to you. Link, you just don't _deserve_ this," she said emotionally. "You don't have to be so strong all the time. You can, like, let me know if you're upset. OK? Link...how do you feel?"

_Finally_. _Finally_. He felt a huge weight lifted from him shoulders. Just to know there was someone...

"I don't know," he responded, not used to this. "I...feel scared too."

_Scared_. The idea of him being scared wasn't comforting, but maybe now she knew how he felt, knowing everyone else was scared. Having to be the brave one, for so many people. God, this was why he had that Triforce. She could barely handle trying to be brave for one person.

"Well, at least we'll know someone in…wherever we're going." He didn't comment, but turned his head away from her.

After a while, Link made a move to go somewhere. Anywhere but here.

"Meghan, do you want to go?" She nodded her head, then she slowly got up. She turned toward him. "Where would you like to go?"

"Um…why can't you choose? I really don't know. I am never that good at making decisions…"

"You're better at it than I will ever be."

"No."

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?" He didn't answer. Instead, he smiled. He tried not to laugh, but it was really hard. Meghan couldn't hold it though. She began laughing hysterically.

"Wow. We sure can have meaningless conversations when we want to."

"Yeah."

"Really. That was stupid." He nodded in agreement. "So, are you going to choose?"

"Maybe."

"Come _on_."

"Let's just go back to Kakariko for now."

"OK."

"We'll decide what to do from there."

"Yeah."

"Good." They turned and walked down the mountain. Rather, Meghan skipped down and Link walked quickly to keep up with her.

Although a smile lightened her face, and she skipped as happily as a clam, Link could tell there was something oddly artificial about her happiness. It seemed like she was forcing the smile, forcing her cheerful body movements. Still, her change in demeanor was so sudden.

"Meghan?"

"Yeah?" She stopped skipping and turned around, her hair fanning out and landing over her shoulder. She had a large smile across her face. _So fake_.

"Hey! Lookie lookie! It's _Kakariko_! We were just there about an hour ago! Do you have your bow?"

"Yes…"

"Let's go to the shooting place!"

"…OK." He followed her to the Shooting Gallery. She threw the door open and ran inside.

"Did you miss me?" She asked the man at the counter. He stared at her with his big, creepy eyes. Meghan hated to admit it, but he sort of smelled. It must be from wearing the same outfit all the time…

"Do you want to play or what?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes! That's why we came here!"

"Pay up," he said, directing his gruff words to Link. He obviously figured out Link was the money cache. And Meghan had spent all her money on giving the fisherman guy friends. Link sighed, not because he was reluctant to give up the money, but because the guy had been a bit rude about it.

"Here," he said, slapping the money down on the counter, but he didn't remove his hand from on top of it. He stared into the huge guy's eyes. The guy frowned.

"What, do you not want to shoot the stupid targets and deprive me of all the money I've ever owned? Move your hand!"

"No."

"Why not?"

Link smiled a very mischievous smile. "Because you are rude and unfair," he said in Hylian.

Meghan's smile faded, but Link retained his own smile. She could tell the huge man was getting angry. Then, she leapt up and *pooed* her pants (this lovely sentence was a contribution by my lovely boyfriend -_-).

"I challenge you to arm wrestling. I'll give you a chance to win your money back." (Of course he says this the way a Hylian would say it, not in that context.)

"What did you say?" Meghan asked.

"That girl does not speak our language?"

"Of course she does. She's just a little hard of hearing at times." Linked laughed deviously. He didn't want the guy to think he had an advantage over them.

"I accept your challenge."

"Link? What did you just say? Was that a joke? That was an evil laugh. I've never really heard you laugh so evilly."

"He said he accepts my challenge."

"What challenge?" Link laughed once (like, "heh"), flipped his hair back, (which Meghan had never seen him do) and removed his hand from the rupees. He moved them to the side and propped his elbow up on the counter.

The other guy did the same, eying the money. His arm was easily two times larger than Link's, but from Meghan's point of view, she couldn't tell if it was muscle, or just fat.

"Link…are you going to…_arm wrestle_ him?" she asked, almost appalled, looking over his shoulder. He looked back at her as the guy grabbed his hand.

"What's arm wrestle?" A smile was on his face.

"Um…_why_?" _Oh my god. Is he going to be a typical guy and try to show off how strong he is, now? He doesn't have to try so hard…it's kinda obvious. First the money, now this._

"Wait and see." Meghan went over to his side.

"Do you want me to say 'start'?" she asked timidly.

"…Sure, go ahead."

"OK. Ready…set…go!" The guy's huge arm immediately flexed. For a second, Link's arm went to the side a bit and it seemed that the shopkeeper had the upper hand. But that only lasted a few seconds. Link immediately turned it around and brought the guy's arm to the other side. He held it at about forty-five degrees, laughed, but with a sudden movement, slammed his hand down onto the counter. Link almost immediately let go. The guy removed his hand and stared at Link, who smiled.

Obviously Meghan was watching. Who could resist showing off? And hell, didn't he have a reason to?

"Yay! Good job, both of you!" she said, even though she knew in the beginning (not that it had lasted long) Link was just teasing him. He could have won in a second, had he wanted to.

"Free…game," he stammered.

"Why thank you, but I'll pay anyway. I just wanted to be fair and give you a chance to get your money back. Sorry." Link pulled out his bow and handed it to Meghan with a grin. "Here."

"Thanks…" She took it and the arrows given to her. Little did she know, the owner was scheming…

He set the pattern of the rupees so they went extra fast, and in all different directions.

"Ready! Go!" He started the game. The first rupee streamed fast by Meghan, and she barely saw it.

"Hey! What was that?"

"Watch, another one!" The man laughed. Meghan glared at him. Another one, red, came by.

"You! What, are you that sore of a loser?" she said, timidly, in a semi-loud voice. OK, she wasn't good at being angry and yelling at random people…

Link looked angry. He turned to face the man, ready to say something, as another one flew by. Meghan watched it go by with a frown on her face. She made a fist and stepped so her feet were shoulder width apart. She slid her arm in the bow, so it stayed around her shoulder.

"No one does this to me and gets away without a hole in their game! I'll show you 'shooting rupees…'"

And as though she only just remembered she could do so, she held out her right hand, palm facing the area where the targets were, and placed her left hand over the back of her right for stability. At that moment, Link turned his head to see what Meghan was doing. He knew that position…

With a flick of her head, she yelled the word, "FURY-!" But Link was obviously quicker than she. He knocked her hand out of the way, also knocking her down accidentally.

"Whoa!" he said, twisting himself around so she wouldn't fall. Instead…it was sort of the other way around…

The blast receded mostly into her hand with her shock, doing no damage to the gallery. Meghan landed right on him, her back to his chest. She quickly rolled off.

"Oh, my gosh! Are you OK?" He had his eyes closed in pain. He slowly opened them.

"Yeah…I just fell on my sheath."

"Ouch," she agreed, helping him up. The first thing Link noticed was the door was open. In their silence, they could hear faint cries,

"THEY'RE NOT HYLIAN!"

"That's right I'm not!" Meghan said, jumping up and making a fist again. "You shouldn't try these things!" She turned back to Link. "Am I the only one who found that oddly strange?" She smiled.

"...I don't know, Meghan. But maybe you shouldn't have…"

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes." He just gave her a strange look. He knew she would never have done anything bad. He shouldn't have made a scene trying to stop her, really (he was even almost certain that her fury attack couldn't hurt inanimate objects, either).

"Cool. Come on, then! Let's go see Galaxy!" They walked out of the building and out of Kakariko. It was getting dark, but they didn't care. Meghan ran over to Galaxy.

"Hi GalGal!"

"GalGal?" he asked, laughing.

"Yeah, it's a nickname! Like Mister Hylian!"

"You haven't called me that in a few days," he said, rubbing Epona, who sniffed him. Meghan tended to Galaxy, who snorted in her ear.

"Ow…loud…" she pushed his face away, and then rubbed his velvety nose. "Silly horsy."

"Where do you want to go now?" Link asked quietly.

"I don't know…" she said as she sighed. She leaned her forehead against Galaxy's neck and breathed in his horse scent. It was so relaxing. "How about we just ride? That's fun."

"Whatever you would like to do." She turned to face him and nodded. "All right." She went to Galaxy's side and mounted. Link did the same with Epona. She guided Galaxy over the bridge and to the main part of the field. Epona stayed right in line with Galaxy. Meghan went the direction of the Kokiri forest, and pushed Galaxy into a gallop. They rode side by side in silence, comforting each other without words. They both didn't know what to say; yet they both knew they were saying everything with their actions.

When they were near the Kokiri Forest, Link finally thought of something to say. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"My birthday?"

"Yeah. We'll celebrate it, even if you don't want to."

"I don't want anything." She wanted to say that the perfect birthday gift would be to have a perfect balance, to be able to be in Hyrule with Link or at home with her family whenever she willed. She knew that would never in a million years happen.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

He sighed. Meghan turned Galaxy near the forests that lined the field. Meghan had no doubt that they were part of the Lost Woods, so she never went in them. She was also scared to go in. It was always darker in there.

"Link, what is in those woods?"

"It's part of the Lost Woods."

"I thought so."

"But that's just what everyone says. I always thought that there was something beyond them."

"Termina."

"Termina?"

"Yeah. Isn't that what you said that place was called?"

"But Termina is so far away. It's hard to believe that it could ever lead there. I don't know of anyone who has ever been to Termina."

Meghan took a deep breath. "Maybe one day we can go explore?" Link turned his head toward her. She knew why; he was surprised that she admitted that there was a chance that something bad _wouldn't_ happen tomorrow. Then he smiled.

"We can. Definitely."

Meghan led Galaxy again, toward Gerudo Valley. She took the long way around, weaving through trees. "Good boy, GalGal!" Galaxy snorted. "You're welcome! Now, faster! This way!"

"Hey Meghan, how about testing his jumping skills?"

"You mean like over a fence?"

"Yeah. Like that one. Epona usually can do that easily. It'd be good for beginners."

"O…OK…" She was a little scared of jumping, but she trusted Galaxy more than herself and she also trusted Link to guide her and tell her what exactly she was to do. "What do I do?"

"Come over here!" He rode Epona to a little way away from the fence, so they were facing it head on. "Come like this."

"OK." She led Galaxy over. "_Hey Galaxy, you ready_?" He snorted.

"You need to go pretty quick going to the fence. Once you're close, Galaxy should be able to figure it out."

"I already told him."

"Good, then he won't be clueless." He smiled.

She smiled. "This is his first time with me."

"Well, that's good."

"No it's not! But I do trust him to be a good horsy."

"Trust is one of the first steps. I'll jump with you. Position yourself a little distance away from me." Meghan turned Galaxy around, making a circle and a bigger gap between Epona and Galaxy. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." Her stomach flip-flopped.

"Go!" Epona started a bit before Galaxy. He immediately sped up. The feet between them and the fence quickly diminished…20…18…16…14…12…10…8…6…4…

The fence was right before her now.

"Galaxy, I hope you know what you're doing, 'cause I don't!" She felt Galaxy's stride differ as he prepared to go over…and miraculously, they went over with ease. Meghan was holding the reins so tight that her knuckles were whitish. Galaxy slowed down and halted. Meghan realized she had been leaning forward slightly, and straightened. She saw Link only a little bit away.

"Good job, Gal. You were great." She breathed out and rubbed Galaxy's neck shakily.

"Wow! That was really good for a first jump!"

"I didn't do it! Galaxy completely did everything! I didn't even know what to do, but he did."

"Good _someone_ knew what to do," he teased.

Meghan opened her mouth wide in fake shock/anger. She rode Galaxy as close to Link as possible and said, "I'm going to hijack your ride."

"Hijack?"

"Yeah, hijack." Link just stared at her. "Better start running."

"OK." He turned Epona around and led her off, not very fast.

"Slowpoke!" She pushed Galaxy into a fast canter, easily catching up to him. "I'm going to catch you!"

"You can't catch me!"

"Yes I can!" Link turned his head around and stuck his tongue out. Meghan laughed. "Dork!"

"Dork!" he echoed.

"Hey! Come back here!" He went faster than he was already going, and Meghan was catching up. She stood as best she could, barely lifting her bottom off the saddle. _Somehow_, she managed to catch up with Link. And yes, somehow, she managed to pull the hat off Link's head, which was beginning to annoy her. Somehow, she actually managed to throw it onto a branch of a nearby tree. You know how that gets him angry.

"Meghan! What was _that_ for?" He stopped Epona and dismounted. Meghan hopped over from Galaxy to Epona while he walked over to where it landed and reached up to pick it up. By the time he had dusted it off and put it back on his head, Meghan was fully mounted on Epona. Epona seemed to be playing along with Meghan. She sidestepped around Galaxy and walked over to Link without Meghan's guiding. "Huh? Meghan!"

"I told you." She smiled. "I didn't lie."

"Well I guess I'll have to take Galaxy, then."

"No you won't!"

"Yes, I will." He walked over to Galaxy. Galaxy walked over to Epona's side. Link followed him and took his reins, but Galaxy resisted.

"That's a good horsy, Gal. Don't let him get on! Come on! Epona! Gal!" She made Epona go, and Galaxy followed, leaving Link behind. She circled around him. He just stared after her. Finally he gave up and just sat where he was.

"Meghan, no one has ever kept me running in circles like you do. Usually I'm the one doing that. I _was_ the one doing that."

"Who did you make run in circles?" He seemed too calm to do that.

"The Kokiri. I was a hyperactive little kid." He fell over backwards and lay down on the grass. She stopped the horses, afraid they'd accidentally step on him, and got off. He didn't seem to worry that they'd trample him.

"Really? What did you do?"

"None of them had as much energy as I did, except Saria. I guess. And most of them didn't want to play with me either." The memories were so fresh to him. To him, these things had happened only a few months ago. How had he been such a kid? How had he become so old? He even couldn't imagine being a kid permanently anymore, like he had once thought. The idea scared him. He didn't know how he had believed that would happen to him in the first place.

"Yes they did. They just didn't want to tell Mido. He would…be mean to them, right?"

Link laughed. "I guess so. But it didn't seem like it." Meghan went and sat next to him. She pulled at the grass. It seemed so preternatural. No weeds grew between the blades of grass, and the dirt underneath was perfectly brown. The grass was so soft. She flopped down on her stomach next to him on his back. She stared at the grass as she pulled blade by blade.

"Well, you have friends now. The past doesn't matter."

"It might not. But we don't know. You could go back there. Back in time. _I_ could go."

"Or we could go back to my world," she said mostly jokingly.

"Or we could stay here."

"Or I could die."

He closed his eyes, pained. _Don't _say_ that. That will _not_ happen. _"Or you could live and I would die."

"Or we could both die."

"At least we'd know someone…wherever we're going," he quoted.

Meghan let out a snort fueled by the irony of it all. "Yeah. That's good," she said sarcastically.

"If…if we do go back to my past, I promise I'll take care of you."

She looked at him. _Take…care…?_

"We could be our own family. We won't have to grow up alone," he clarified.

He'd grown up alone, she realized. He didn't want that. She smiled.

"I'd like that."

They lay and talked for a while, with Link trying to steer the conversation away from their inevitable…um…tomorrow.

In a little bit, Meghan got to a conversation about biology and Link got interested in genetics, just as she had been.

"Check it out." She drew a square in the dirt with her finger. Then she split it into four parts. "You put the alleles here," she put a capitol R and a lower case r to the left of the square vertically. Horizontally she put R and R, on the top. "The 'r's stand for round, the dominant and recessive alleles." Link looked at the square carefully. "Now you have to do the cross thing. The capital letter always goes first. Bring the two letters to the square." She traced her finger from the top R and wrote an R in the first square on the left. Then she traced her finger from the left R and put it after the R in the first square. Next she traced the top right R into the top right box, and the first R on the left into the same box. Thirdly, she traced the top left R into the bottom left square, and brought the r on the bottom left to the same box, after the R. Then she brought the top right R to the bottom right box, and the bottom left r to the bottom right box, after the R.

"And that is how you do that part. R stands for round, the dominant allele, and r stands for wrinkled, the recessive allele. We're speaking of pea plants here, some simple Mendelian genetics. Now, the genotype and phenotype. The genotype is what it is genetically speaking, which genes it actually has. The genotype here is fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous, and fifty percent homozygous dominant. The phenotype is what it looks like, or its other characteristics. It's one hundred percent wrinkled."

"How do you know which is dominant?"

"It depends. You can tell by doing a test cross between one pure kind and another pure, and whichever shows up in the offspring is the dominant. Because they would all be hybrids, right?"

"Um…I guess so."

"Let's try that one." She repeated the process, only on the top was rr and the side was RR. All the results came out Rr. "So what are the phenotypes?"

"That's the…what it looks like, right?"

"Yeah."

He focused on the square. "It's all…so they're all round, right?"

"Yeah! Now, what's the genotype?"

"Well…they're all the same…so one hundred percent…words." He smiled, not remembering the words she'd used.

"Heterozygous. Or, hybrid is easier to remember."

"Hybrid, then."

"Yeah. Now, take a look at this. If you crossed two hybrids, remember, each still has the allele for the recessive. So if you cross them…what will happen?" He looked at the already drawn square.

"Then…" he paused.

She wiped out her square. He filled in the parts, squinting in the faded light.

"Phenotype is seventy-five percent round and twenty-five percent wrinkled. Some are wrinkled again."

"Yeah."

"And genotype. Genotype is…well, there's more here…so I know fifty percent is hybrid…and…twenty five percent is…that other word, hom-e-ozygous?"

"Homozygous. This one," she pointed to the top left square, "is homozygous dominant. Now, this one is exactly the opposite. What would it be?"

"Homozygous recessive?"

"Yup! So, twenty-five percent homozygous dominant, twenty-five percent homozygous recessive, and fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous."

"Interesting."

"I know, isn't it? It was my favorite subject. Biology, I mean. I miss it. I was taking it before I came here..." Gosh, she'd been so close! Just a month more before the test. She wished she'd finished it, had some kind of evidence that she had a brain. Or maybe she didn't. It'd be nice to know. "Could have gone to college…majored in biology…"

"OK…"

"Yes, I bet you have no idea what I'm talking about. The earthy and/or modernish stuff."

"No, I'm just thinking of how knowledgeable you are," he said, rolling back onto his back and closing his eyes. Meghan stayed in her position on her stomach, idly drawing some genetics things in the dirt.

"I'm not…I wish I was smart. I've done so many stupid things. I just enjoy genetics. I _really_ like learning about DNA repair and stuff, like non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination, base excision repair…"

Link opened the eye closest to her and looked at her. "What did I tell you?"

"So?"

"So? So, that's helping my side, not yours."

She shrugged and didn't say anything.

After a bit of silence, Meghan noticed how dark it was. She could only just see her square in the dirt. "Have you any clue what time it is?"

"No."

"OK." She rolled onto her back next to him. "I don't care anyway."

"You know, I haven't seen Navi the whole day…"

"Yeah…well, that's OK. I guess we survived without her. Where'd she go?"

"I don't know. I think she's enjoying her free time, though. Not having to deal with me." Well, he knew she didn't mind dealing with him, but at least she didn't have to follow him around everywhere.

"I hope she's having fun."

"She is. Even though I wouldn't mind finding her right now. I feel bad because I can...treat her less than she deserves to be treated. But I would have gone insane if I didn't have her. I really love her."

"I do too." Meghan thought about Navi and all the fun things they had done together. Navi was bright and cheery, never down about anything. Quite talkative, but she really was a very good companion.

"Meghan?"

"Oh, sorry. I daydreamed a bit." She let her hand fall from where it was resting on her stomach to the ground. It fell on top of his, and she didn't even know his hand had been there. She quickly and reflexively tried to move it, but his hand grasped hers before it could move. She turned her head, and saw him staring straight at her. She turned it back.

"What's up?" she asked feebly. She was between starting to cry and starting to freak out over the fact that they were, once again, holding hands. She was unsure why sometimes it bothered her and sometimes it felt normal, natural.

"Look at the stars."

She pointed up with her free hand. It was completely dark now, and the stars were visible and bright. "Do you have constellations?"

"Constellations?"

"You know, like people make things out of the stars. Like where I come from, there's the Big Dipper, and like the zodiac ones, and…and lots of other ones. They're just the shape of the stars' formations. I don't really know many."

"Oh, well, there have always been the goddesses in the sky." He pointed to the side, using their hands that were grasped together, pulling her arm up. What Meghan thought he pointed at were a bunch of stars, where if you connected the dots, looked like a stick figure with a ponytail. "That's Din. And that's Nayru." He pointed to the middle of the sky, straight above them. It looked like a stick figure with shoulder length hair.

"Cool!" She was beginning to realize that this moment was like an _extremely_ cliché movie scene. But it was cute nonetheless.

"And Farore, my goddess, is over there." He pointed to the left where a stick figure with two pigtails was, then let their hands fall back to the grass.

"That's cool. Better than my world's stars." She stared up at Nayru above her.

_Nayru, what was the point? I came here, but what was the point? Am I going to go back? Will I die? I hope Link is all right._ She turned her head and saw him staring up into the sky too. Her hand tingled, as he still held it tightly. She thought he was probably thinking the same thing as her. _I hope he'll be OK. That's all I ask for._ She wasn't sure if she imagined it, or if it really happened, but she thought that the stars that made up the Nayru constellation glowed a little brighter. She chuckled. _Cliché movie._ _Has to have a happy ending. It just has to…_

"What's funny?"

"Nothing." She sat up and put the hand he held on her knee, her legs crossed.

Link sat up too. "What's up? Why'd you get up?"

"I don't know. I just feel weird here." She waggled her free arm.

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. It's getting cold." She shrugged, smiling. "I want to get up!" She let go of his hand and jumped up. She grabbed her backpack, and fished out her red cardigan. She ran over to Galaxy, where he grazed. "See this, see? This! This is a horsy!" Link stood up and stared at her. _How can she be like this? One second she'll be one way, the next, another completely!_ "This horsy is cool!" She hugged Galaxy around the neck and breathed in his musty, horsy scent. "You smell good…" She yawned.

"Maybe it's time to go." Link suggested.

"No! It's only, like, nine o' clock or something! Dude! I don't want to go! No no no! And ugh, I don't want to go back to the castle. Way too annoying, too far." Ugh, she didn't even want to think about going there, even though Shina was _hopefully_ out of her hair. Just the thought of him…ugh!

His breath caught. "Then…don't go back to the castle," he said quietly, barely suppressing a smile. _Was that a hint...?_

"Where do I go then?" She laughed bitterly, stuffing her nose back into Galaxy's neck.

_Isn't it obvious_? "We can go back to the Kokiri Forest." They were not far from it.

Then her breathing became shallow, her heart pumping what felt like fire. "That's fine, but I can't go back to Saria's house. I already changed to the castle. I 'live' there now," she said sadly. _Haha, live. For like two days. Yeah right._

"Then you can stay at my house. I don't mind." Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself nodding her head. Then she shook it quickly after nodding.

"No, I couldn't," she said, her heart skipping a beat. _Did he just…? This isn't something that someone just "doesn't mind" about._

"Really. I don't mind." He stood, held his hand outstretched to her. He gave her a look, one that waited impatiently for an answer.

"…OK…" she said slowly, head spinning. "What about Gal?" She changed the subject.

"We can bring him back, and then go."

"OK." She walked over to Galaxy and mounted. "Come on, boy." Link followed her with Epona. In about ten minutes, they were at the ranch. Malon was nowhere in sight, so Meghan removed Galaxy's tack and put it back in the tack room, just as Link did the same with Epona. None of the other horses were out, so Meghan led him inside the stables. Link brought Epona inside, too.

Meghan put Galaxy in his stall and made sure he had food and water. "_I hope I see you again. Maybe tomorrow,_" she whispered. She gave Galaxy a huge hug, and rubbed him for a while, while Link tended to Epona. She found brushes and brushed him over, and Link did the same with Epona. Then she gave another hug, a kiss on his velvety nose, and a final pat. She closed the door as she left the stall. Galaxy seemed to sense her sadness and whinnied.

"I'll see you," she said. Link patted Epona fondly and left her. Meghan noticed how he didn't close her door. "See you, Epona," she said, her voice crackling. She gave her the same hug and kiss. Tears came to her eyes, but she took deep breaths and refused to let them fall. Kinda. She was realizing more and more that refusing to let tears fall was kinda impossible, something that only existed in novels.

Horses watched them as they left, hoping for a carrot. They walked out of Lon Lon Ranch. _Possible for forever, _she thought.

A while later, they arrived at the Kokiri forest. A few Kokiri were still out, but not most of them. Meghan didn't feel like talking to them today…she just waved.

They stopped at the Kokiri Shop, which was about to close, and bought some bread, fruit spread, and vegetables to eat for dinner. Link carried them, in a white cloth bag, back to his house.

She climbed the ladder to Link's house. She went and sat on the bed. It was cold tonight, reminding her of the night she had come to Hyrule. Link sat next to her. She removed her backpack leaned back against the wall. He cut the bread at his small table and placed it on small wooden plates, bringing it to the bed where they sat and ate in silence. They wanted to say something, but neither could find what to say. He wanted to bring up a topic, like biology, but didn't know if he should. Maybe she wanted quiet. Sometimes silence was the way to comfort someone, he thought.

"Maybe I'll get to play the piano again soon," she said suddenly. "I miss all the music from my world, not that yours is bad, but mine has electric guitars and stuff. It's a different sound. And acoustic instruments aren't bad, but it loses the artificiality of it all. I like when it's artificial! I used to write—well, never mind."

"What? What were you going to say?"

She laughed a bit. "Nothing…" she said, taking a bite of a green pepper.

He sighed.

"Well, if you really want to know, I was going to say I wrote songs. I don't know if I've told you that, though."

"No, you haven't."

"Oh. Well, I have. A lot of them I didn't get to finish, because there's no piano here for me to play!"

"We'll find you one, one day." He tried to imagine her playing piano, and it was hard, but he wanted to see it.

She laughed. How coy.

They finished eating and put their plates on the table, Link saying he'd wash them later.

"Thanks." As they sat back down on the bed, she scooted close to him. His house didn't have good insulation since all that covered his door was a long white cloth. She shivered, pulling into herself, crossing her arms around herself. He boldly wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back on him. She sighed. She gave up trying to stop the weird insects crawling in her stomach. If they were going to eat her alive, hopefully it'd be before tomorrow.

"So, how many songs have you written?" he asked to keep this light conversation.

"Well…" she counted in her head. "Well, I don't know. Some are unfinished, some aren't good..."

"Will you sing one for me?"

"No!" she said, allowing a small laugh. "That's too embarrassing."

"Please?" he asked into her ear, probably not on purpose, but she shivered a bit anyway.

"I can't just start singing here!"

"Well, what's your favorite of your own songs?"

"Maybe...'Sing Me to Sleep?'"

"Sing Me to Sleep?"

"Yeah… I don't know where it came from. Thought it sounded pretty."

"Will you sing it for me?"

"No! I can't sing!"

"Well…I don't believe that." The way her voice was singsong in normal speech had always led him to believe that she could, and he knew she was musical.

"I can't."

"I just want to hear it. Please?"

"I can't just sing unaccompanied, on demand like this."

"Sure you can."

"Um…oh, fine." She took a deep breath. "I'll sing it."

_Sing me to sleep  
In that gentle way,  
In my mind, in my soul,  
Put me to sleep today._

_I was all alone, wandering.  
And now I'm tired.  
So sing me a song  
that will let me sleep._

_And then…_

_Cry me to sleep,  
my tears, glistening, fall.  
When I remember it was but a dream.  
Let me cry to sleep,  
Let me cry myself to sleep…_

_Sweet song, sweet tune,  
Plays inside my head.  
When I remember it was just but a dream.  
Do I remember it was a dream?  
My tears remind me,  
remind me to sleep…_

Timid, hesitant, she sang quietly.

Link was surprised. "What…where'd that come from?"

"I guess music is my best…quality. I'm not pretty, I'm not athletic, I'm not very social, I can't handle most of my emotions, and I can't handle _anything_…"

"But that's not true! You're beautiful! And for only having experience with a sword for a month, you are very good with wielding it! You have so many friends here..."

She felt her body tingle again, the way he was holding her. He had just called her _beautiful_...did he really mean that? Was he just trying to make her feel better? She had to try hard to keep her heart beating steadily. Not that that was something she could control, so obviously it wasn't working.

"Hylians are _nicer_ than humans. Isn't that why they put me here?" She was put here because humans were destructive…apparently.

Link paused. "I don't think so-"

"They're _terrible_, really. I was different, they hated me. I had only my closest friends. But I used to feel so sorry for myself, and only when I came here did I realize that I didn't _try_ hard enough. It was my own doing." Link comforted her by rubbing her arm, releasing all her tenseness. She calmed down. "But people here, they see past flaws. You saw past flaws-"

"I saw only your beauty," he said quietly.

"Oh." She realized she had just helped his case rather than her own. _I'm doing that a lot tonight…AND WHAT IS THIS "BEAUTY"CRAP?_

"But I don't think that matters now. You'll always be with me, in some way. I just know it." And she believed his words. Whether they were a lie or the truth or just speculation, she believed it.

"At least we'll know someone where we're going…" they both said at the same time. Meghan giggled and Link smiled, although she didn't see it. She yawned and crossed her arms, grabbing his hands on either side. He held them tightly. She snuggled into his warmth, leaning her head back onto his muscled pecs. _Yep, those insects are definitely going to eat me alive...  
_

These good thoughts were all she needed to fall asleep. She closed her eyes and before she could help it, she was asleep.

Link used the freest hand he had to pull a blanket over her and himself. His thoughts were mostly neutral at that point, her mere company keeping him away from the terrible things hidden in his mind. He listened to her breathing as he himself nodded off to sleep.

Words rang in his mind, strangely amplified in his half-asleep state.

_Sweet song, sweet tune,_  
_Plays inside my head._

* * *

**Hopefully I'll finish the blog post for this some time today. :) _  
_**


	26. Remix: Day Seven: Final Day

**Listen to "Tornado" by Jonsi at the end(ish) of this chapter! :D  
**

* * *

**Day Seven: Final Day**

Link woke, not quite remembering what today was. Then he saw the girl in his arms, breathing steadily. They'd fallen over during the night, so she was sprawled out over him, her head resting on his chest, and his arm was on her lower back. The sun was barely up. He could only just see around his room. It couldn't have been later than six. He slowly inched out from under her, leaving her on the bed with the blanket on top of her.

With the thoughts of the day ahead of him, and what he had to do, he decided to take a short walk before Meghan got up. He walked to the door, achy from sleep, still imagining the feel of her body against his. _That girl…that girl he could kill by doing this…_

"Where are you going?" a tired, soft voice came from the bed. He turned and saw Meghan with her eyes barely open.

"Go back to sleep. I'll be back in a few minutes. It's really early."

"Then why are you up? It's cold." He walked back to her and tucked the blanket tighter around her, gently and thoughtfully. She was very tired and didn't feel like moving. She blinked; trying to keep her eyes open, but was failing miserably.

She looked adorable.

"I just want to take a walk by myself for a while."

"No…please…don't go…I'm tired…and you are too." She was talking in a high-pitched baby voice, probably not on purpose.

"But I'm not."

"Don't…hide it." She exhaled. "Please come back." She squeezed a tear from her eye. It wasn't because she was crying; it was just from being so tired.

"It's early. Go back to sleep." He sighed and kneeled down next to her. She ventured to open her eyes once again, squinting. "I'll stay." She slowly turned to her right side, her right hand under her head and her left hand hanging over the side of the bed. He gently took her hand.

"_Why did you want to walk by yourself? Where did you want to go_?" she asked in a whisper.

"…_I wanted to see…my mother_." She opened her eyes and blinked.

"_Oh,_" came a tiny breath of sound.

He had to give in. He squeezed in on the bed between her and the wall and fell asleep himself.

**-~- A few hours later...**

This time, Meghan woke up first. She just lay there for a second, and then realized something. She fell asleep…in his arms, spaaazzz, and…his arm was still there! Only she could have sworn she fell asleep sitting up…oh wait! Then she had woken up because Link wanted to go somewhere…

And now, his arm was in a most inconvenient spot for her to get up…around her waist. Not that she wanted to get up. She turned around and looked at his face. It was…so beautiful…

Half awake, she finally allowed her mind to acknowledge what she had been quieting her own thoughts about. His eyes were gently closed, sandy bangs falling in front of his face. His head was propped up on his own arm, and his lips…he had such perfect lips…

_OK, too far, Meghan Black. Get your mind out of here._

His eyebrows were perfect also. They accented his face and gave him a serious, yet mischievous look…especially when those big, blue eyes were open. They were every cliché color simile she could think of, fierce as a blueberry, blue as an ocean, all that stuff…but a shame—they were closed. His skin was so perfect also…not a flaw in sight. He looked so young. She felt self conscious, being so close to him with her acne-prone skin. His hat had fallen off on the bed behind him. He had really nice, soft-looking hair. She wondered why he always wore that hat.

She looked out the window. The sad, gloomy feeling fit the day perfectly. It looked damp, wet, and rainy outside.

She rolled over, so now his arm rested on the other hip.

"I don't want to go," she said, burying herself under the blankets. Link woke up to this action. He quickly removed his arm, realizing it was resting on her back. She was almost completely under the blanket. The only thing that stuck out was her elbow and some of her wild hair.

"Meghan," he said, shaking her a bit as he sat up. "Meghan."

"Noooo…" she moaned.

"Meghan, we have to get up." He rubbed his face with his hand.

"Nooooo!" she moaned louder.

"Meg, get up."

"Go away!" He got off the bed, awkwardly maneuvering over her. "Don't want to get up." She burrowed farther into the blanket. He could see the outline of her form under the blanket. She was curled up in a small ball.

"_Meghan…we have to. I'm sorry,_" he whispered.

Oh, _duty_. Why did he have such a huge sense of it, and why did he have to do this? Why could he not just ignore the blaring urge to do what was right? Couldn't he just run away?

He pulled the blanket from over her head. Her hair completely covered her face. "Come on." He pushed some of the hair from her face, Her eyes were wide open, but she made no attempt to move.

"I'm not going anywhere," she moaned. "I don't _feel_ like it."

He sighed. "I don't want to do this but…" he pulled the blanket from over her in one quick motion.

"Hey!" The sudden cold was _frustrating_.

"You're wearing clothes. You can't be that cold."

"Shut _up_."

"Just get up, please. Don't make it harder than it is," he added solemnly.

"You're just trying to make me feel bad," she said into the bed, so her voice was all muffled. He sighed again. He slid one hand under her…well, as best he could under her back and another under her knees. She protested, but couldn't do anything about him picking her up.

"Hey! Put me down! Put me down! Ahhh! Put me _down_!"

"Don't be so cranky." He put her down, feet first so she could stand. As soon as she was standing by herself, she jumped back onto the bed and curled up again, facing the wall.

"It's too icky outside."

He sighed another very annoyed sigh. He picked her up again; this time didn't let her down right away. She kicked in his arms, but didn't want to actually accidentally hit him so he just brought her outside. It was cloudy, gloomy, and just plain gross outside. The melancholy feeling brought tears to Meghan's eyes.

* * *

"Luke…do you know if anybody saw Meghan last night? I don't think she came in," Zelda asked Luke. He was sitting in his office in the castle when Zelda appeared at the doorway.

"No. She didn't come in. I could ask around, if you'd like," he said as he stood.

"No, I'm sure it's fine, but I just want to be sure she's all right. You know…"

"I'm sure she's fine. She's probably with Link."

"Do you think she stayed with…him…last night?" she said, trying to phrase the sentence so he wouldn't get the wrong impression.

"I don't know, but I know he wouldn't let anything happen to her. After yesterday's events, I mean."

"You're right. I know they saw Ruto yesterday and Impa said they had been in Kakariko, but after that, I don't know. Maybe Malon knows something. Or I can ask Darunia if they were on the mountain-"

"Zelda. Stop worrying. They're fine."

"I know, but what if…I don't want to say they're irresponsible, because they're certainly not, but what if they're not here and-"

"Zelda!" he said, walking to her. "They're fine."

"Yes. You are right…"

"Zelda, I'm more worried about you. Will _you_ be all right?"

She looked pale and distressed, not as put together as she usually was. Reminded him of a time…

"…I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

Zelda nodded, but then she shook her head. "I don't want anything to happen to them! I don't want them to do this! But they have to, and they knows that, but it seems so cruel…I don't like it. I really don't like it." She looked at him with sad eyes.

"Everything will be fine."

"But we don't know that! What if the goddesses don't even know?"

"They _must_ know. They _do_ know. We must have faith in them. They watch over us." He put his hands on her arms.

"But…but…but there are so many determining factors…" She crossed her arms and her brow furrowed. "And then there's s-" But before she could finish her sentence, his lips were on her own in a gentle kiss. She was so surprised. Her arms uncrossed and flew to her sides.

Luke broke off, stepping back. He bowed his head. She covered her mouth with her hand.

"Sorry, Your Highness."

She stared at him, trying to make words come out of her mouth. "Don't apologize." She paused for a second. "And don't call me that." Luke looked up and smiled.

"Right."

"Luke, there's something I should tell you," she said, venturing forward to put her tiny hand on his arm.

"What is that, Zelda?" he asked, blushing at her touch despite his earlier boldness.

"Do you remember Sheik?"

His eyes widened, a million memories rushing to him. "Sheik? Yes, I do of course. You know what has become of him?" he asked, though he squinted at her…wondering…wondering why she so reminded him of Sheik.

"Luke, then I must show you something important."

"What is that?"

Zelda looked out the hallway, making sure no one was around. Then she closed the door. She put her finger to her lips so he'd remain silent. He nodded.

She stepped a bit away from him, never taking her eyes from him. Then, in a flash, she moved, and smoke blew up around her. He was shocked, but when he could see her, she wasn't herself.

"Zelda! I knew it!" he said, smiling and laughing.

Since the moment she'd gone to him and requested he take the position of Spymaster a week ago, he had been getting slews of flashbacks of his times with Sheik, little bits of nostalgia and strange feelings, which he associated with that boy he'd known. He hadn't thought of Sheik lately _nearly_ as often as he had after Sheik had disappeared…until he started spending time with the princess.

That made him feel terrible inside. He'd imagined himself waiting for the day he could be with Sheik once again…but as years passed, he merely had memories of how Sheik had affected him. The princess caused identical feelings in his gut…and it was strange for him to think, but he felt himself gravitating toward her, the same way he had to Sheik.

But now…this relief…this happiness…but it was out of place, because Sheik…no _Zelda_…she was not happy.

"Sh!" she cut him off, moving closer in her skin-tight, body-wrapping outfit. She looked up at him with piercing, red eyes. Then she removed the covering from her mouth and from her head. She looked different, yes, but that was Zelda indeed. And yet, Sheik. How could he have not seen it? It was so bizarre…and those rupee eyes…

"Luke…" she said sadly, moving herself closer to him, wrapping herself around him. What was her body?

He didn't even know. He didn't even care. He pulled her closer. Her heart raced.

* * *

"You can put me down now…" He walked onto his balcony. "Hello, please? No! No! Don't go down the ladder like this! You'll hurt yourself! Stop stop stop!"

"Fine." He gently put her on the floor, but he stood in the doorway so she would not be able to go back in. She sniffed and crossed her arms.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"We have to do it sometime."

"Well, duh, but, you know…"

"Yes?"

"Ah, forget it." She looked out into the cloudy sky. "It's as if nature is sad too." Link looked too and nodded.

"Very much so." She leaned her head back and pulled her fingers through her knotty hair. He wanted to laugh at her bed head, but at the same time, he didn't feel capable of laughter. She fixed it well enough without his comment.

"Let's just go. We have a horrible habit of having meaningless conversations just to procrastinate." She was freezing, though, still only wearing the small cardigan. He disappeared inside the house for a moment, returning with his own cloak. It was big on her, but she welcomed the warmth.

He smiled sadly. He knew what she wanted them to go do, and that was the sad part of the smile. But it made him happy that she wasn't terribly dreading it…at the moment…and actually got out of the bed.

"But first, we must see…somebody."

"Who?"

"You know, the person you wanted to see this morning?" she said/asked quietly.

"Oh, of course. I wasn't sure if you wanted to come with me, though."

"I'd go with you anywhere," she ventured to say, quietly.

And it was those words that gave him that much more courage to do what he had to today…all the things he had to do today. When he'd woken for the second time, the remnants of a dream solidified his resolve to accomplish one more thing today, something that he had originally planned…

"Thank you. You have no idea what that means to me."

She felt a lump in her throat. She nodded. If she said anything, she feared that she would start to cry. Already tears formed in her eyes, making her vision blurry, but she tried not to make them fall. Yet her eyes overflowed, and before she could help it, a tear dropped from her eye.

They went down to the Great Deku Tree's meadow, saying hi to the Deku Sprout.

"Although your journey seems rough, a destiny lies ahead of both of you. What will be done is your destiny, and you cannot change it." Meghan remembered that was almost exactly what Link had said on the first day of this week. "The goddesses have plans, and they should not be doubted."

"Thank you for your wisdom, Great Deku Sprout," Link said, nodding solemnly.

"Of course."

They walked over to the lone tombstone. Link kneeled in front of it, and, out of respect, Meghan did too. He looked so valiant, with his head bowed. She knew he was talking to her, telling her everything that he could. So Meghan decided to, too.

"_I never knew who you were, or what you did. I do not know your name, but neither does your son, Link. Nevertheless, I think that you were probably a wonderful person to have such a child, one who is so beautiful and strong and nice at the same time. And help us. Can you talk to the goddesses? Well, if you can, tell them, or get someone to tell them that your son needs you. And…and I do not want him to be sad. So don't make him sad._"

"Meghan, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stood and helped her up. "Are _you_ OK?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do you want to go?"

"You don't…want to stay…any longer?"

"I'm done, did you want to stay or something?"

"No, no! Or, I don't mind staying but it's not like I want to really badly."

"OK, then let's go." _Another procrastinating, meaningless conversation._

They walked in silence the walk to Hyrule Castle Town. It was a long walk.

…_What will I do?…_

…_I do miss my friends…_

…_She'll be devastated…_

…_my mom and dad…_

…_Zelda…what would she think if I didn't…?_

…_I hope he'll be all right…_

…_I couldn't live with the thought of that…_

…_What would he do?…_

…_What if my actions…kill this girl?…_

…_I feel like I should be more scared about this. It just doesn't feel real…_

Meghan lifted her head and realized that she stood before the walls of Hyrule Castle Town. Another lump formed in her throat as she began to think again. She imagined what would happen if she did die. What does it feel like? Does it hurt? Do you know when you're dead? What if we're all dead? She tried to imagine just not existing anymore. It was hard. Before she'd found Hyrule, she hadn't believed in heaven or hell, but she did now.

They entered the town. Link thought of the best thing that could happen. He didn't like to look to the worst. He imagined them, the same as they were—happy, together…his insides flipped with the prospect of what he _could_ have, the life he could have…

_If it starts today…_

Meghan was torn from her thoughts as something hit her foot. She looked down to see what it was. A green ball. She looked as a few little kids came and ran to her to get it. She kneeled down and held the ball out to one of them. It was a young boy, maybe seven years old.

"Here you go."

"Thank you," he said, staring at her unabashed as he took back the ball. Two little girls came to her and pulled at her hands.

"Hi! What's your name? Play with us! Come on!"

"Yes, play!" Meghan couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know…"

"Please?" they asked, smiling.

She stole a look at Link. He nodded and smiled.

"OK. What are we doing?"

"What's your name?"

"I'm Meghan."

"Hi, Meghan!"

The boy tossed the ball to her. She caught it in her left hand (a fluke).

"We're playing a game that requires skill," he said, obviously trying to sound older. "You have to toss the ball as quickly as you can to one another. When Dia says 'stop,' the person with the ball is out." The little girl who was obviously Dia waved timidly. Meghan waved back. _So it's hot potato…_ "She's too little to play, so we make her do that."

"Why is she too little?" Meghan asked. "Why must she be the one? Did you ask her if she wants to play?"

"No, but she can't play."

"Size doesn't matter! Dia, did you want to play?"

She nodded eagerly. "But I'm too little," she said in a tiny voice.

"Just because you're little doesn't mean you can't beat the rest of these people." She motioned for the little girl, who was sitting on a wooden flower box, to come over. She hopped down and tottered over to Meghan. _No one will be left out, if it's the last thing I do in Hyrule._

"But who will say when to stop?"

"Why, that's why I brought Link along!" The little boy who had first retrieved the ball from her looked at him.

"Cool!" he said in Hylian (or its Hylian equivalent, I should say). "He has a sword! A big sword! Can I hold it? I can handle it, I swear!"

"Sorry, but I can't let you. Maybe when you're older. I'm sure your mother wouldn't like it too much."

"She wouldn't mind!"

"Maybe…another day."

"Fine. We need to start the game anyway. Dia won't get past the first round."

"_Have faith, Dia_." Meghan leaned down next to the girl. How could this game possibly be that hard? She was probably four or five. "_Trust in the goddesses. They'll give you more than you'll ever know_…"

"Start!" The boy yelled. Link sat where Dia had been sitting and observed carefully. He knew this game from the Kokiri Forest. He wondered how it got here.

"Stop!" Link yelled. Perfect timing. The ball was in the hands of the first boy.

"No! I'm not out! He was cheating! You're not supposed to look!"

"I wasn't," he said simply.

"Turn around! We need to start again." Link did as told, sitting on the other side. He was smiling. He closed his eyes. He could hear it…the slight bounce sound of the ball as it was caught…and the exact moment the kid had it.

"Stop," he said confidently. He turned around and the kid had the ball. "Hey, what's your name, kid?" Link had a large smile on his face, and looked like he was enjoying playing with the children.

"Stop calling me kid, cheater!"

"I didn't cheat."

"You're out, Devan," the little girl said with her adorable little puffy cheeks and huge eyes. She looked like Devan, and Meghan thought they might be siblings.

"What do _you_ know Dia?"

Meghan played the game with Link and Dia and the other children for a while. She was having so much fun with all the little kids that she basically forgot everything…

…But Link looked at her every chance he had, and saw something beneath her skin, some invisible tornado brewing in her chest. When the children could not see her (and perhaps when she thought _he_ wasn't looking), her face fell into some sort of contorted frown. She instantly perked up, though, the moment a child turned to her.

They eventually got distracted and broke away from playing the game. "Oh, come on, guys!" she said as the little girls pulled her by her hands to the floor. They sat next to her and in her lap on the fresh cobblestone floor. She wondered what they were all doing in the unfinished town square.

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"No!" she laughed.

"Please?"

"Fine. One day…I was very sad…and I was hoping that something good would happen. So that night, I was sitting in my room, where I lived. And then, the next thing that I knew, I was on my butt and on some soft grass. Can you guess where the grass was?"

"Hyrule field!"

"Yes. And I saw the very first person I ever…ever…_liked_ like I did. Link and I became very good friends, very quickly."

"You're my best friend!"

Meghan made a strange face. "Thank you…I think. After we became friends, we went on all sorts of adventures." She looked over to where Link was, with all the boys. They were doing something. Then she realized his sword wasn't in the sheath. "Link, don't hurt them!"

"They did it!" he laughed. They were jabbering over the blade, Link desperately trying to keep them from touching it.

"Continue the story!" one of the girls said, pulling Meghan's hair with her little hands, running her fingers through it.

"OK, OK. So then we went on this huge adventure and I got to fight this huge monster. Link actually beat him, though."

"What did you do?"

"I got hurt. Basically."

"That's awesome! Where'd you get hurt?" _This is a bunch of tomboys…_

"Here." She lifted her shirt just enough so the four girls could see the scar left on her stomach. It was five or six inches long and still had a little bit of scab left on it.

"Ow! It looks weird."

"Yeah, it hurt. But Link helped me."

"That's so romantic!"

"Well…no, not exactly! No, it's not like that," she laughed nervously, hoping Link didn't hear them.

"I'm going to go on an adventure with someone when I'm older!" Dia said softly.

"I hope you do. And have fun while it lasts."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, I went back to the Kokiri Forest…"

"You saw the Kokiri? I thought that there was no way to do that! My mommy always tells me the forest is dangerous."

"No, it's possible."

"What did you do there?"

"Yeah, what did you do?"

"I met with Princess Zelda, who told us that Link would have to seal the area where the evil monster was. We had one week. So on the first day, I met the first of a group of very special people, a Kokiri named Saria. We talked for a long time. On the second day, I met the girl society of Gerudos, and another special girl named Nabooru. They had a surprise party for us. The next day, we met a very wise, old, special man named Rauru. He gave us tea in a magical garden. The next day we visited the curious Gorons, with whom we played a very hard game of Goron Bowling. We met the strong Goron brother Darunia. The next day, we went to Kakariko Village."

"I've been there! I live there! But now we're moving back here!"

"We all live there! Shush!"

"Heh heh…we played games and went shopping there. We met the mysterious Sheikah, and leader of the village, Impa. The next day we went swimming with the Zora in Lake Hylia, a vast lake all the way across Hyrule."

"One day I'll go there too!"

"It's beautiful. We met the last of the special people, Princess Ruto, a Zora."

"What did you do the next day?"

"We went to Hyrule Castle Town and met a bunch of very special people, very, very special."

"Who were they?"

"Well, they were about this high," she held her hand a distance from the ground. "And they sat in my lap and asked me to tell them the story about how I got here, while Link stood somewhere else with some boys and showed off his sword." She paused for a second.

"Hey! That's us!"

"Yes."

"You're going to seal the monster forever?"

"Yes."

"Well then you must go!" They got off of her and pulled her to her feet. She brushed off her pants. _If only it was that simple…_ "Mister Link! Hurry!"

"What?" He turned around as two little girls grabbed the hand that was not holding his sword.

"Go do it!"

"Do what?"

"_It_!"

"What's 'it?'" He looked at Meghan.

"Yeah…um…"

"What?" he asked, getting scared.

"It! Go _do_ it! IT IT _IT_!"

"Dia! Devan! Time to come home! It's going to rain!"

"Sanna! You too!" A bunch of mothers started calling their kids back, which was very strange. It must have been lunchtime or something. They had all emerged from a store, carrying baskets, smiles on their faces. Meghan and Link said their goodbyes to the little tykes and waved in greeting to the mothers.

"_Bye Dia_…" Meghan whispered, watching the little girl waddle away.

It had become cloudy again. People started to go back to their homes, all but forgetting the two teens standing in the middle of the square. So blissfully unaware of their destiny…shamefully unaware of who exactly the boy was.

He gave her a look, completely conflicted. She stared at him for a moment, then he pivoted toward the Temple of Time. She took his hand as they walked there. He squeezed hers back.

They saw Zelda waiting there, something leaning against her leg. As Meghan got closer, she realized what it was. Meghan took one long look at the Master Sword against her leg. Zelda and Link greeted each other silently. Zelda lifted the sword up to Link, and he took it.

"Meghan…"

"Zelda." Zelda bowed her head, showing she was sad, but she didn't have the courage to put it in words.

"Do what is to be done, Link. I…you are..."

"Is it true that you think I'll die?" Meghan asked.

Zelda's head bounced up. "Truthfully, I do not." She gave her an honest look. "The other sages…" She faded away. "But I have confidence that the Goddesses will guide us and help us. No, I do not believe so." Meghan nodded. By this time, Link had switched swords, putting the Master Sword in place of the Biggoron sword. "Are you ready, Meghan?"

She nodded. Zelda stepped forward and hugged her tightly.

"May the goddesses guide you on any road you may have to travel." She said in her ear. "You will always be my friend, and I am eternally grateful." Meghan nodded as she let go.

"You'll do great…you know… leading Hyrule."

"Thank you." _Already, mistakes I have made, though…and this is the result of one of them. I will not disregard your words, Meghan from Earth. I will do my best._

"And Link," she gave him a hug too, "be careful, anywhere you go."

"Thank you."

Zelda pulled away and looked down. "_Goddesses, we need you more than ever now_…" She looked up.

There was a moment of "what do we do now?" Then Link pulled himself together.

"Come on." Link pulled Meghan's hand and they walked inside. He stood tall and strong, hearing the call of duty. Meghan felt tears inside her eyes, once again blurring her vision. They left Zelda behind, the heavy wooden doors of the temple closing.

_You sound so blue…_

_You now are gloom…_

They were now in the room where the pedestal was. Meghan tried not to look at it; she tried not to look at anything. Link turned to face her, taking both of her hands. She looked down.

"Meghan…I have to say…I never thought before…I never have been this scared."

_Scared? _she thought. _I never thought you could be scared. You're not scared. I'm the scared one…_

"I…" She looked up at him, taking in those eyes of his, hypnotizing in the worst way. She didn't attempt to look away. She couldn't, she didn't even think of it. He moved closer to her, tilting his head down slightly and Meghan brought hers up, some strange instinct guiding her as his hand touched the back of her head.

Their lips met in a long desired kiss. Renegade tears fell down her face, stopping at her chin for a moment before falling to the ground between them. After a few seconds they gently broke away. They made eye contact again, absorbing the shock of what had just happened.

"_I love you_," he said in the midst of it all. "I've wanted to say that…yet I could never find the courage. I don't know why. I'm just so afraid…of being here without you."

She heard him, but it didn't register in her mind.

Meghan stood back and let his hands go, just standing there and sniffling. Her breathing started becoming segmented and hard. More tears fell down her face, until she was totally crying. She stood by herself, just crying.

She felt like an island away from him, completely drowning in an ocean of tears. Her arms hung at her side. She just cried.

Link felt what she was feeling. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her, with it not even occurring to him…that she hadn't said she loved him back.

She put her arms around his chest and cried into his shoulder, wetting his shirt and tunic through. Her fingers desperately gripped his clothes. But then she remembered what he had said to her…and the idea of it was mind blowing.

"I love you too…" she cried. "_So much…_" A huge sob escaped her lips.

Link let her cry. There was no point to rushing it. He gently rubbed her back, which comforted her more than he realized. He waited…

Her crying started to slow down, but she still held on to him.

"We've made so many promises. Promise not to break them?" she hiccuped.

"I promise. _Always_."

She sniffed, lessening her grip around him. Then she slipped away from him, and they took each other's hands. Slowly they walked to the pedestal. Link solemnly drew the sword and Meghan let go of his hand. With one last, long look at each other, Link stepped up to it. She was full of terror for a moment, and didn't know whether she should give him space or be with him. He sighed deeply and raised the sword above his head.

She ran forward, grabbing him around the torso, burying her face into his side as he slammed the sword downward. So much blinding light surrounded them that she had to close her eyes. An invisible force grabbed her at every limb, ripping her apart from him. She opened her eyes one last time to see him, engulfed in lights, reaching to her as he was pulled away in slow motion, his eyes wide and his lips parted as though trying to say something.

They both screamed.

…_We'll always be together…_


	27. Remix: So This Is Our Fate

**So This Is Our Fate.**

"_Meghan…Meghan, wake up. Time for-"_

"Mommy?" Her eyes flickered open. All she saw was blurred white for a few seconds. Then the white light formed lines, dividing into the smooth gray stones that made up the Temple of Time. She sat up after watching the scene before her unfold. She didn't forget a thing, as though she'd only just closed her eyes. "Oh my god! Link?" She frantically searched the room. She saw his figure sprawled out on the floor a few feet away. She crawled over to him, her back sore. She must have been sent flying.

"Link…wake up." She shook his arm. "Come on." She shook him harder. "_Link_."

She sighed with relief as his eyes squeezed tight. "Link?" she asked. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He turned his head and looked at her. He smiled. "Link…" she said breathily, smiling and half crying at the same time.

He reached up, and just as she thought he was going to touch her face, he reached even past her face and touched…her ear?

She sat back and put her hand over his. The feeling seemed to extend farther than usual…

"Oh my goddesses! What…?"

Link removed his hand and sat up, his mind whirring and spinning dizzily for a few moments before it settled and he came to a conclusion, "You're…Hylian now," he said confidently.

"What? Me?" She touched her ears, her face, and everything that a Hylian had different than a human. She pulled her hair in front of her so she could see it. It now had the same texture as Link's did. Plastic-y. It was kinda weird.

"Look at you. You're so beautiful."

"Thank you…" she said, feeling tears of relief. She blushed at his words and put her hands over her ears.

"Well, that's new!" He smiled mischievously.

"What?"

"You're blushing!"

"No, I'm not!" But she only turned a darker shade. "I never…um...do..."

She felt her cheeks next. Did they feel hot?

"Truly. You are."

"Really? Oh my god…"

"Really."

"Oh, great. The big giveaway." She looked away.

"Don't be upset, it's nothing unusual. I blush all the time, don't I?"

While they _were_ talking about something trivial, his mind was building up some kind of explosion. This had…this had worked…this was not the terrible ending he'd dreaded…

"I guess." She stared at him. She could stare into his eyes and nearly hypnotize herself. She shook her head.

"So is this it?" she asked, a little scared. "Is this what happened? Is this real? It's kinda weird...am I really…?"

He shook his head, his mind still working on that explosion. "I _think_ this is it. It has to be real. Hopefully not a dream, but it is a beautiful one, if that."

She stared at him, incredulous.

He stared at her, mesmerized.

She looked the same, for sure, but somehow her features were more intense and angled, compared to her softer previous self. He loved either look, really. The difference was interesting. He just wanted to study her all day long…

"Come on, let's go. We have to find everybody! This is so awesome!" She pulled on his hands and helped him stand. "Can you believe it?"

"…Yes and no. But yes!" He laughed. This was it! This was what they'd been waiting for!

His heart leapt, and he picked her up and twirled her around in the air, getting giggles in response. "This is so…_awesome_!"

"Awesome!" she said as he put her down. He hugged her tightly, pulling her lithe frame to himself.

_You're mine now, _he thought, but he didn't dare say.

Then they gasped as the floor started shaking.

"Come on! The Door of Time!" He took her hand and yanked her out of the room. She ran through the closing door, and it closed with a slam.

"That was close," she said, her heart pounding suddenly.

Link nodded in agreement, staring thoughtfully at the door.

"Let's go," she said, pulling him gently away from something that had once been his destiny. He nodded, turning slowly away from the door. He noticed that the Spiritual Stones were gone.

Whether she was imagining it or not, as she started to walk, Meghan felt off-balance. It was different. She could have sworn her feet shrank…or something was out of proportion. It was bizarre. She held her hands out like a tightrope walker. He laughed at her, a smile once again taking over his face.

By the time she had exited the temple, though, she felt nearly the same. After he'd picked up his Biggoron Sword, she took off running, bounding across the lawn of the temple and tearing through the town, Link right after her. She was unsure whether this energy was her new body, or her absolute _glee_. She reached the field and leaned over in the stream near the moat. She could see a faint reflection of herself.

She was so different. The first things she noticed were her ears. They were so long now. She couldn't decide if she liked it or hated it. She had a feeling she'd miss her short ears. Her eyebrows seemed different, though she wasn't sure why. Instead of random, the little hairs seemed to be in straight lines and in order. She couldn't tell too well in the water, but they _were_ different. Or maybe she was just imagining things after observing Link's eyebrows this morning? Was this a Hylian thing?

Looking over her skin, every flaw she remembered having, the scars on her hands, they were all gone. She was so confused. Was it because she had apparently turned Hylian, or had some(one)/(thing) actually changed her appearance?

Quickly remembering, she turned away from Link and lifted her shirt slightly and looked at her stomach. To her dismay, the wound was still there, thought the scab had transformed into a prominent and outstanding scar. Link saw the disappointment in her body language as she considered it, staring off to one side. He kneeled next to her.

"It's probably still there because…it was made by Ganon's sword. It's…demonic. It could have…" he trailed off, not wanting to say the words he was thinking. He was thinking stupid words, and upsetting words. He wanted to say, "cursed your skin," but that was weird.

"Well…that's all right, I think. It's not like it hurts." She suddenly gasped. "If I'm…" but she faded away. She pulled her knife out.

"What are you doing?" he asked, grabbing her wrist instinctively.

"Seeing!" She switched the knife to the other hand, braced herself for the pain, then quickly poked herself on her own finger. "Ow!" she cried.

"Ah!" he cried as well, grabbing her hand and pulling it toward himself, into his chest. "Don't _do_ that!"

But even after a few seconds, no blood came out, and then the pain eventually receded. All that was left was a bloodless laceration in her skin. "It's not bleeding!"

"Yes. I guess you're really like me now." He smiled despite, his face close to hers.

She wasn't sure yet whether she liked this or not.

"We need to find Zelda," he said after a moment. He knew Zelda was upset, and they needed to let everyone know they were both fine.

_More than fine…_

"Then why did we come out here?"

"You…did that."

"Oh. Right. Come on then!"

At the castle, she asked the guard out front if he saw Zelda around.

"Yes, she came running in. She looked upset."

"She went inside?"

"I can't say. Another guard followed her."

"Thank you," they both said to the guard.

He nodded, in slight confusion, because he thought that girl who was now living in the castle had not been Hylian. She was foreign…but this girl looked exactly like that girl…and this girl looked Hylian. Still, she was with that boy…

"We need to find her soon so we can tell her! Darn it! Well…I _think_ I know the way to her-"

"Wait! I don't think she's in the castle."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I don't…sense her there."

They started walking back to town. "Well, then where do you think she is?"

"_I will answer that question,"_ a voice said a little too conveniently.

"_Rauru_?" Meghan whispered to Link.

"_Zelda is with us in the Sacred Realm, with all of the sages_." They found themselves surrounded in lights. Then they were in the Garden of the Goddesses' Wish. They saw Zelda in the gazebo. Meghan looked to the side of it. She saw a faint golden light. It was humanoid in shape, and there were two bright, blue lights where the eyes would be on its face.

But as soon as she noticed it, it went away.

"Did you see…what…never mind. Zelda!" She ran forward. Zelda looked up. Meghan realized as she drew closer that Zelda had been crying. Zelda stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Meghan!"

"Zelda!" Zelda stood up and practically hug tackled Meghan.

"Oh goddesses! Look at you! Look! You're beautiful! Thank you goddesses! Thank you Nayru, thank you Farore, thank you Din!" Zelda embraced Meghan as though she was her child. "You're all right…" she whispered, her hand pulling Meghan's head toward herself, but since she was a tiny bit shorter than Meghan, their cheeks just ended up touching. "You're OK?"

"Zelda. You just said OK. I've never heard you say OK before," Meghan said.

"Looks like you've rubbed off on me." Zelda smiled.

"Where are the rest of the sages?" Meghan asked, after Zelda had stared at her for some time.

"They're...around," she said distractedly. Link was now standing next to them. "Link! I'm so glad…" She gave Link a big hug.

"Me too, Zelda," he said while returning the hug.

Zelda let go, exhaled loudly in relief, pushed her hair back into place, and smiled. "Come. Let's find the other sages!" Zelda took Link and Meghan's hands and pulled them towards the stone wall at the end of the garden. She went right through it and ended in the Chamber of the Sages.

"Meghan!" came a few voices.

"Link!" came the others.

"Meghan, are you all right?" Saria asked.

Meghan nodded. "Yeah."

"You're different than you were before. You look like a Hylian!"

"She _is_ a Hylian," Nabooru said, looking her over and circling her. "Yes. A Hylian." Meghan turned slightly red. "Now, there's no reason to blush!"

"I don't mean to! Am I? Really?" She covered her cheeks.

"Yes, silly."

They heard a faint "ahem" as they chattered, Darunia picking up Saria so she could play with Meghan's ears. Meghan, Nabooru, and Saria looked to where it came from. Rauru. Saria and Nabooru smiled at each other and stepped back onto their respective platforms. All the other sages did the same, except Zelda, who moved off the whole entire platform. Meghan thought she was going to fall, but then she remembered one could walk there…eh, somehow. Another platform appeared where she walked.

"Rauru?" Zelda asked.

"I called you to order because the goddesses have chosen to do something we thought unimaginable. A mere hour ago we were praying to them for the finality of peace in our fair Hyrule, and here it has come, with the safety of our hero and our land's visitor."

"By the goddesses, yeah!" Darunia called.

"So we must—"

"Oh, Rauru. Give up. This isn't the time for seriousness! It's all over! Let them go," Nabooru said.

"I must agree with Nabooru. Another time, we can ponder these strange happenings. For the moment though, let us rejoice for the safety of our people. _All_ of our people," Zelda said, eyeing Meghan and Link.

"Yeah," Ruto agreed.

Rauru was quiet. He looked at the hero.

The hero. He'd cared for him for seven years, here in this chamber, his body limp yet growing strong despite a lack of nourishment or training. Even before Link had been locked here, he'd watched over him in the form of a bird. For the hero to be safe…it warmed his heart. The old man smiled.

Zelda started to laugh. "It's all right this time. Celebration! That's what we should be doing. Celebrating! Bye everyone." Suddenly all the sages formed themselves into little orbs of light of their own color. Green, blue, yellow, red, purple, and orange. Then Meghan and Link were surrounded by white. They heard Zelda's bell-like voice as they shifted to a new location. It sounded as though she was laughing and crying at the same time.

For a few seconds, Meghan felt as though she was nowhere. She looked around. Everything was just white. Then she saw a bit of gold. It was like the figure she saw earlier, only this one had red eyes.

_Later_

_Later_

The word—no, the _concept_ echoed through her head. She started to go towards the figure. It stayed exactly where it was, growing larger with every step until she was right next to it. It was a bit taller than her.

"Are you…?" she questioned worslessly.

It burst in flames. Meghan stepped back. When the flames receded, it was gone, and she was staring into the great wooden doors at the entrance of the Temple of Time as though she'd been there all along. "More like 'what' are you…"

"Meghan?" Link asked. "Are you all right?" She'd been frozen in place for a few moments.

She cocked her head to one side. "What?"

"Are you all right?"

"No, not you. I just saw…something."

"What was it?" he asked, looking where she was looking.

"Not here anymore." She squinted. "It looked like a person, but it wasn't. I was in this white room and it said 'later' to me and then burst into flames and was gone. It was all gold colored."

"Gold colored…?" He thought for a second. "Meghan, what did she look like?"

"I don't know if it was a she. It was just a gold figure and had these piercing red eyes. That was it."

"Oh." He was thinking…but what he was thinking made no sense.

"Hey, can we go back to the castle? I need to get changed." Hugging Zelda had made her feel unclean because she hadn't changed her clothes since…yesterday morning. Bleh.

"OK, sure."

"And there's a mirror there!"

"Yes!"

"Yay!" They went quickly to the castle, greeting the guards again. The same guard looked over curiously, glancing at one another, still confused.

"Do you know where…?" Link started, wondering if she had any clue where she was going in the castle. Last time they were here, she didn't.

"Yes! I feel confident!" And within a few minutes, they were standing outside her door. "See? I only took two wrong turns!" Link laughed. Meghan opened the door and let them in. She ran to the mirror on the wall in the sitting room. "Look!" she cried, pointing at the mirror. "Is that me?"

"It looks like you."

"Are you sure?" She saw many details that proved she was herself—the shape of her face, her eyes, her nose, her height. It was just little details like the size of her ears, shape of her eyebrows, and skin and hair texture that made her different. She leaned in very close to the mirror.

"Can you see yourself yet?" he asked jokingly about her proximity to the mirror, standing with his arms crossed behind her.

"No," she said monotonously, distracted. Actually, now that she examined herself, her eyes looked different. Lighter. Maybe it was just her imagination or the lighting, though.

She stared at herself for so long that Link sighed and sat on the couch.

"I'm done," she said, oddly sulkily. "I'm going to get changed."

"OK..." He wondered why she looked so glum then. Wasn't she happy about this? He knew _he_ was...but he supposed it was _her_ body. He tried imagining what it would be like to turn human, but he didn't know enough about them to make an accurate judgement.

She skipped into her bedroom, closing the door. After she'd taken her old clothes off, she observed herself in the mirror, turning different ways to see different angles. She seemed largely the same…she couldn't figure out why she _felt_ so different, though.

She switched her clothes with a black shirt and black pants. Now, she felt like what she had been before, even though as far as she knew, she never would be it again. _Human_. She was having a tiny identity crisis. She wanted to cling to her old self, which she feared was gone forever now. The only way she knew how was to try to look the way she once had. Dark clothes. Would her personality change now, too? She didn't know if she was the same _inside_.

Shouldn't she be happy though? She was not stuck in purgatory, or whatever other bad outcome. She was in Hyrule with Link, but…

…there was that realization that she was also not back home. She felt another pang of that nagging homesickness, missing her parents, missing normal life. Tears tickled her eyes. She took a deep breath, trying not to think about things important and not, like high school, computers, coffee, families, pictures, French fries. She was used to life in Hyrule now, but she'd never get over everything that was familiar and more realistic to her.

_What is my life?_

After brushing her hair she collapsed back onto the bed, contemplating herself for a few seconds. And still…as if this wasn't enough, she had the whole issue of what Link had—No. _Think about that later_, she told herself, though her insides boiled. She didn't want to keep Link waiting, but she felt so uncomfortable in her own skin. She rolled over to her side, seeing her dresser as she turned. She got up to go through the drawers with an idea in her head. _No…no…_she said with each fail. Finally she found what she was looking for.

"Awesome." She pulled out a pair of short, black gloves and pulled them on. She then dug out a pair of boots from the closet.

"Um…" she started going through all the drawers again. "Yes!" she pulled out the almighty black makeup. She applied it to her eyes, tracing her upper and lower lash lines carefully. "Now we are complete." She felt a little better, and even laughed at herself. She surprised Link when she opened the door, with all her black.

He was still very unused to her appearance as a Hylian, and with the makeup she wore, her gaze was quite intense.

Her voice was soft as usual, though. "Um…what do we do now?" she asked.

"…I don't know," he said as he stood.

"…We could…" she moved, standing across from him, her shins touching the coffee table that separated them.

"Yeah?"

"No…"

"No…?"

"Yeah."

"OK…"

"No…no…"

"Huh?"

"What are we talking about?" Meghan giggled. Link smiled.

"I don't know. Now, where do you want to go?" What, _really_, did they have to do now?

_But…it starts today_, he said to himself. He maintained his smile.

"I don't know." She wanted to go somewhere more familiar than the room they were in. She wanted to be the place she knew the best, to get rid of the strange feelings associated with all the unexpected changes. "Let's just go somewhere else?"

"Sounds good." They were about to leave the room, n front of the door, but he couldn't resist. All his feelings...they were _out there_. Even though things seemed the same between them at the moment, she _knew_. Knew everything he had been brooding over for the past week. And he knew how she felt, finally. So he walked to her and took her into his arms again, holding her tightly for a moment before they left the room.

As he held her, she felt both comforted and confused. Comforted because he was there. Holding her, being with her. Her heart was leaping with joy. Weighted with confusion.

He let her go, and they left. They had gotten as far as the field when the question popped up again. "Now what do we do?"

"Sit down on the grass," she said, plopping down. She put her ear to the ground. "I can hear things."

He sat down next to her. "Maybe you can hear better now."

"Yes, maybe, _good_."

"Very good."

"Yes, very good."

They spent their time talking, smiling and laughing like old times, but with a new weight lifted from their shoulders. They felt free. They felt like what they were supposed to be—children. Teenagers. Young adults. At some point during the conversation, Link took her hand and held it tightly.

Soon they noticed the sun going down. "It's that late already?" she asked conversationally.

"Must be. The sun wouldn't go down otherwise."

She laughed. "True. But who cares if the sun goes down or not?" Freedom.

"Not me. Because I always know it'll come back up tomorrow."

_So true…no matter how bad things may seem, no matter how dark, the sun will always come up again. Always._

Meghan was looking out over the rest of the field, when she noticed something. "Epona?"

Link looked where she was looking. "Oh, it's Epona!" Link had gotten up. Epona galloped to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as joyously Epona sniffed his hand and lipped it.

Meghan stood up. "Epona came to see us! She wanted to be sure we were all right!" Meghan went over and started patting Epona. "She's very caring." Epona seemed very happy, both with seeing the two and all the attention they gave her. "It's really weird. When I pamper Epona or Galaxy, she is benefiting from it. But also when I do that, she's making me all relaxed and stuff and I'm benefiting. You know what I mean?" she asked.

"Yes," he agreed, a small smile on his lips.

"It's like the 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' thing." Meghan leaned her head against Epona. It felt good to close her eyes and clear her mind. She wrapped her arms around Epona's neck.

"Are you all right?" he asked, craning his neck from the other side of his horse to see her.

"Yes," she said, immediately lifting her head. She blinked.

"You look…tired."

"I'm fine." She smiled to prove her point.

Link shook his head. "OK, but you really shouldn't push yourself. You've gone through so much today. No doubt that the way you've changed has taken quite a bit of energy out of you." He should have thought of that sooner, actually. He didn't have a _clue_ what they were, together, but he knew he should at least try hard to take care of her.

"But I feel fine!"

"OK, but you know, it's OK to tell me when you're tired. We can go back."

Meghan nodded. Then she yawned. She supposed she felt a little drowsy, but not enough to go back to the castle. Or maybe she was too lazy to go back to the castle. Hmm. "OK, I am tired. Let's go sit over there." She nodded toward the stone wall. Link nodded. He took Epona's reins and led her over. Meghan nearly collapsed onto the wall when she tried to sit on it.

"Meghan!" Link yelled, letting go of Epona and helped Meghan regain her balance and sit.

"Why am I so tired all of a sudden?" Her eyelids felt heavy, and she had to struggle to keep them open.

He sat next to her, keeping her supported. "You don't look too well…"

"I…feel fine, I'm…" Her eyelids started to droop. She couldn't keep a straight thought. "Just tired…" She suddenly fell right over. He caught her awkwardly. He thought she was knocked out or something, but the tiny, nearly inaudible snores told him that she was just…sleeping.

"_Meghan, I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fast,_" he whispered, almost feeling worried, but she just...looked asleep. He picked her up gently so as not to jar her, and moved to sit on the ground, leaning against the wall with her. Random, unexpected-it was just like her.

* * *

Meghan opened her eyes and found herself in the Garden of the Goddesses' Wish. She looked up to the now familiar garden, seeing the flowers in perfect, full bloom, lit by a sunless yet bright sky. She turned her head toward the gazebo and was surprised. There sat the two golden figures she had seen before, only now there was a third. This one had bright, green eyes that looked through her soul, it felt. It surprised her more now, because _now_ she knew who these figures were. Or rather, who these _goddesses_ were. They were Nayru, Din, and Farore. It just seemed so obvious. _Here they were…_

Her body had an urge to bow, to acknowledge their presence, but she didn't know if that was appropriate. What was she supposed to do? These were not people. These were _not_ her equals. These were _goddesses_. _Creators_. Full on _fear_ settled in her core.

"_Please, sit,_" said the one with blue eyes. Nayru.

She was confused. First, where were they expecting her to sit? And then why were they asking _her_ to sit in _their_ presence?

"_Behind you, and because you will become tired standing after all the questions you have to ask._" The words were not spoken. They just _were_. Like an undeniable truth, they were in her head. Meghan looked behind her and saw the most amazing thing. Stems, roots, vines, and flowers were all growing away from the grounded part of one plant and molding into the shape of a chair. The result was a chair that looked like wicker, with flowers melded in between its thin branch-like construction.

Meghan didn't want to sit, nor did she intend to, but she found herself doing just that. Nayru looked at her very carefully.

"_No need to be shy. Please, ask as many questions as you need._"

Meghan was afraid to say anything. She didn't even have _that_ many questions to ask. After a look from Nayru, Meghan lowered her head and quietly asked the first thing she thought of, for fear of upsetting them. "Why did you decide to put me here, of all people?" They were silent, as though waiting for her to say more. She was confused, so she started talking again. "Of all people…on Earth…I mean, if God wanted any harm done, why would he not put somebody who could cause real danger here? Like…like, a terrorist who could really cause harm? Or a sociopath? Why a…uh…harmless girl, like me? You know...you know I never wanted to do anything bad to Hyrule..."

Farore laughed. "_**Dear girl, the god of humans is a strange and unique individual. He was angry, and your pleas were apparently prominently heard, so he sent you. He intended to only cause a little confusion, a tiny bit of chaos, which you did ultimately cause. He also knew, however, that in the future, you would do more good than any evil you could do. His anger was temporary, as was his solution for it. A god knows the question, the answer, the outcome, and the consequences, all at once.**_"

Meghan thought,_ I caused trouble?_

"_Yes, indeed. Do you not remember? You cause trouble for two of the most important people in the land. The Hero of Time, and the Sage of Wisdom. The holders of our Triforce of Courage and Triforce of Wisdom. You had the hero running everywhere looking for you, and although you don't know this, the Sage of Wisdom was following you for a while._"

"I remember…" Meghan said out of impulse.

"_Do you understand now_?"

"Yes..."

"**You have more to ask**." Din. Din was…terrifying. There was so much dominance and…well, power emanating from her, though she was farther away from Meghan than the other two.

"Why did I become a Hylian?"

"_**I thought it was only fitting. You will be here from now on**_."

"So I...was never going to leave?"

"_**No. We do not know why you were so upset. It was never going to happen. We decided when we apologized to your god that you would not leave, and you were witness to that very conversation. You knew all along.**_"

She felt embarrassed nonetheless that she had missed this direct sign from the goddesses. Crap! If only she'd been able to put thing together! Maybe part of her still hadn't believed that any of this was real, so she'd discounted all the strange dreams about these beings.

"_That is all right. It is all over now, correct_?" Nayru.

Meghan nodded. "I have a strange question. Does everything happen for a reason?"

"_It certainly does_."

"So then why did I happen to land in front of Link when I came here? And how exactly did I get here? Seems weird. I could have gotten here anywhere. I might never have met him."

"**Oh. That is because in the beginning, we did not know who the human god was transporting. We intervened to be sure that the Hero of Time could take care whoever was coming. We only found later that it was you**." Din laughed.

"OK." Yep, strange star-crossed people they were. Link was supposed to kill her from the start. Maybe she was supposed to kill him too. Even though that was what she'd gathered from this conversation so far, it seemed so far from real life, such a weird fantastical nightmare that she didn't even consider the idea for more than a few seconds. None of that would ever have happened. It was someone else's story. Not theirs.

"_You have more questions_."

Meghan smiled. She suddenly remembered that she had been sitting in the very place they were, only a few days ago. She felt special. She thought for a moment. "Does he forgive me?" She, of course, meant Link.

"_**For what, my dear?**_" Farore was like warmth on her soul. Meghan liked when she answered her questions.

"For everything. I've done so much to him. Now that I think about it, when I first came here, I _was_ a bit evil."

"_**I think he forgave you for everything before you even did it**__._" Farore had no way of smiling to her, but Meghan felt the idea of a smile in her head. Were smiles goddess- (or god-) created inventions? It was hard to imagine a sentient being not using a smile.

"I hope so…"

"_Child, do not be so assuming_!" Nayru said, rising. "_You have done nothing wrong and anything that you have done is ultimately the fault of the gods. We have taken a special liking to you, another question I see searing through your mind, because you were at the mercy of the Hylians. We had to be very careful_." By this time, Nayru was halfway to Meghan. Meghan felt a burning in her body, growing as the goddess moved closer. Her heart started beating quicker. "_Nothing was your fault. You were not supposed to be in Hyrule, but your destiny has been rewritten. This is how you are now._" By that point, Nayru was very close to her. She wasn't really walking. Rather, she was…being closer. She was neither flying, nor walking. Just moving.

Meghan looked down. It was too bright to look at. She was afraid of being disrespectful too. She would have stood up, but Nayru was very close. She was panicking.

"_Do not feel so uncomfortable. I will not harm you. And you are not being disrespectful. Now, another question_."

Though she wasn't thinking straight, the question came to her. "Why…why didn't Link have to eat and stuff and sleep? The other Hylians have to, and I have to, but he didn't! And now, he sleeps. He never did before." She felt sheepish asking this question, but it kinda came out. She _was_ very curious about it.

"_This is because of who he is. The Hero of Time. While he was busy being the savior of Hyrule, he had no time to be bothered by such needs. Time and he were one and the same. Now, as his journey is over, he is a normal boy as he should be._"

"Then how come the Hylians don't bleed?"

"_They are different creatures than humans, as you will soon discover in your altered body. Things work differently for them. This…blood is simply shielded by other substances. Humans and Hylians were created by two different deities, your God and our Farore. While they created both species in our likeness, they ultimately had different designs. Hylians and humans are rather similar, if you consider other creatures such as the Zora and Gorons._"

Made sense. "Thank you…"

"_Ask another."_

"What…what is the weird…weird magic thing that I do? That thing that happens when I say 'Fury…' et cetera?"

Din chuckled. She seemed to laugh a lot. "**As we have stated, you were cast into a fate to which you did not belong. We granted you with that one ability to use your inner power so if anything went wrong in the dangerous state of Hyrule, you would have a way out. You had no power otherwise. This is your goddess granted ability."**

_So they gave it to me…_

Meghan thought for a while, but not too long. "I think those are all the questions I have. Thank you very much."

"_No. There are more questions. One in particular ebbs away at your heart, yearning to break free. It is a question you know you have, yet cannot be brought to ask. It is deep inside your heart. Look carefully inside yourself_."

Meghan shut her eyes and thought carefully. _Question…what question? Are you sure?_ she asked mentally. She couldn't think of it.

"_Shall I state it?" _Nayru moved away, floating.

"…Uh…"

"_The question you wish to ask. You wonder why the Hero of Time chose you. What he…loves…about you."_ She said the word "love" with slight hesitation.

Now that she thought of that, she _was_ sort of…curious…as to why. "Yes. I wonder that."

"_Well, I cannot answer that question_." Meghan looked up suddenly. "_You will ask him yourself_."

"Oh…OK…"

"_**As for your own feelings…do not doubt yourself," **_Farore began. Meghan was intrigued. What could the goddess have to say about her feelings? Did goddesses even have these kinds of feelings? "_**What begins as childish affection, brought upon by closeness and shared moments, will grow strongly into mature devotion if corrected nurtured. It is your own decision how to act upon this opportunity. Do not allow uncertainty to cloud your heart."**_

Nayru turned and was suddenly back with the other two goddesses.

"_I hope we have answered your questions thoroughly._"

Unexpectedly, the chair from underneath Meghan disappeared. She felt like she was going to hit the ground and braced for the pain, but she kept falling. She saw herself sleeping in Link's arms on Hyrule Field, his lips to her head, before she fell back into her body.

"_**The Hero of Time is next…**"_

* * *

**So…if you're reading for the first time, is this what you expected? Teehee, I'd love to hear what you think. :) Btw, I have many qualms about this _love_ thing. As an older person now, I realize that maybe their love isn't what I'd originally thought it was. They're so young. At this point, it's probably more like puppy love. Just so you know. More thoughts about this will be in my blog. XD**

**Thanks for reading! *love***


	28. Remix: Happy Birthday!

"Hey Meghan, wake up."

Meghan opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Link's face. Her ear hurt, she soon came to notice. She must have slept on it funnily. Boo, stupid long ear…

"Happy birthday," he said, producing a bouquet of flowers. Still half asleep, she yawned and sat up, surprised.

"Ohhh...what?" she asked, dazed. What time was it? Had she slept so long? She couldn't even remember when she had gone to sleep...

"It's your birthday," he laughed.

"Wow, I didn't even remember it was…" She reached for the flowers, taking them gingerly. "Thanks. But you didn't have to get me anything." She realized the gloves she'd been wearing the day before had been taken off, and the boots. She felt embarrassed.

"Is that considered getting you something? Now you make me feel bad. I have another present for you." He sat on the bed next to her.

"How'd I get here?" she asked. She was in Link's house.

"I brought you here, silly," he responded. "You fell asleep on me last night. Literally. You…completely fell over. Managed to wake you up and basically dragged you here. You just wouldn't wake up."

She laughed, not remembering that all. "Really?"

He nodded, smirking.

She sighed. "These flowers are beautiful. Thank you so much." They looked like those mini roses with no thorns that she saw in the Garden of the Goddesses' Wish.

"OK." She wasn't sure if she should mention the dream. She saw no problem with it, but she felt that maybe the goddesses might not like it…or something. It probably wasn't even real.

After a moment of silence, Meghan gently preening her flowers, Link opened his mouth and said in Hylian, "Kelle ae nautil vieh bensai, ali ushe maliu'zu kigo, maff aoa. Zou, ali Triforce'zu ubela, itsuy'zu desdu pariya'zu den onsel."

"Whoa, what does that mean?" she asked, surprised by his sudden ramblings in Hylian.

"Hmm, just some random thing that popped into my mind. It means…in a realm beyond sight, the sky shines gold, not blue. There, the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true." He looked at her.

"…Uh…and where did this come from?" She became worried for a second that maybe he knew about her dream. She hoped not. It would be _most_ embarrassing.

He just smiled a bit, as though remembering something cryptic. "The Book of Mudora. I read it when I was young. It stuck in my mind." He looked at her eagerly, excitedly. He just seemed so happy, and that made her happy in return.

Meghan laughed, leaning her head on Link's shoulder. "Thanks for the flowers, again."

"Anytime," he said cheerfully. "Now, you have to come with me. I have another present for you!" He stood up, nearly making her fall from jostling the bed so much. His eyes immediately opened wide as he stopped her from falling forward. He laughed mischievously.

"OK, where are we going?"

"Lon Lon Ranch," he said with a huge smile.

Meghan laughed again, standing. "Why is it there?" She found her boots and tugged them on.

"I hid it there."

"And I was going to look for it? You know I didn't want anything. Why would I bother looking for it?"

"Because…I don't know! You're going to make me to tell you too soon! Just come before I spoil it!"

"Fi—whoa!"

He had pulled her with such force towards the door, it shocked her. As she regained her balance, he pulled her out the door and almost pushed her down the ladder, but she stopped him. "Link! Oh my god! What are you so excited about?" She put her hands on his shoulders.

He started to jump up and down. "Come on come on!"

"Wow, did you have lots of sugar today?"

"No! Come on, come on!"

"OK! OK!" She descended the ladder as he stopped jumping. Link followed quickly after her.

"Come on! We must hurry!" He pulled her and started running.

"Dude, are you _sure_ you didn't eat anything possibly _druggy_ today?" she asked as they ran. She couldn't do this so soon after waking...but she still felt that surge of energy like she'd felt yesterday.

"Nothing sugary! The only thing I had to eat today was a kamamelon!"

"What the heck is a kamamelon?"

"It's a fruit!"

"Does it have caffeine in it?" she joked.

"What's caffeine?"

"Well, fruit has sugar in it! You _did_ have sugar today!" Suddenly he stopped, which also nearly knocked her over.

"You know, the strangest thing happened this morning! When I went to go get your flowers, I was _hungry_. So I stopped in Hyrule Castle Town's market and bought a kamamelon! Funny, though. I ate it all. Sorry I didn't give any to you. I'm sure you would have liked to try it. But I haven't been _truly_ hungry since…only the goddesses know! I know I've been eating, but it's been so long since I've actually felt _hunger_."

"God Link. You definitely had sugar. And welcome to the real world. We have to eat here." She wondered if he knew what the goddesses had told her, about time passing him by so he didn't have to eat or sleep.

He grinned and pulled her arm. "Come on! We can't keep Malon waiting for us!"

"OK…!" So they exited the forest and eventually (some time later) got to Lon Lon Ranch.

As they entered, Link gave her directions. "OK. Stay here. Don't move." He literally placed her next to the door into Malon's house. "I get Malon, you stay," he said.

"Why do you need Malon?"

"Because she hid your present somewhere so I couldn't be tempted to tell you if you asked." He winked, obviously fibbing.

"O…K…"

"Great! I'll be right back." He threw the door open and ran inside. Then he backtracked (walking backwards), smiled at her sheepishly, and closed the door behind him.

Meghan giggled. A few seconds later, Link returned with Malon.

"OK, I'll go get…" he realized Meghan was listening, "_it_."

"I'll stay here." Malon smiled at Meghan. "He was so proud of himself when he thought of the present."

Meghan laughed even more. "He…didn't have to get me anything…"

Not too long after, Link appeared again, leading Galaxy. He had a big grin on his face.

"But Link, you said that you hid the present _here_!" Meghan said.

Link's smile faded. "I did…" he said, nodding. Malon started laughing, the situation turning comical.

"Meghan, don't-"

"Wait! Malon, don't tell her." He smiled again. Meghan looked from Link to Malon.

"What?" she asked, smiling nervously.

Link walked up to her, leaving Galaxy. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Meghan. Meghan, Meghan, Meghan."

"Yeah?" she had to force herself to not started laughing. He was hilarious when hyper like this. It was so strange to see him acting this way.

"What did I say we came here to do?"

"Um, you said you were going to…give me a present?" she asked.

"Yes. And why did I leave and leave you with Malon so you would not follow me?"

"Um…to get the present?"

"Exactly. And now I'm back. Now. I have nothing in this pocket," he said, putting his hand in a pocket and bringing out nothing, "and I have nothing in this pocket." He did the same to the other. "I don't have anything on me." He spun around in a circle. Well, he had that ever-present sword (she wondered if he really needed it), but that was it. Meghan started to understand. "And what did I bring back?"

"No way! You…you…Galaxy…"

"Galaxy is now all yours," Malon said, unable to hold it in any longer.

Meghan's mouth opened wide, and then formed a smile.

"No way!" she repeated, jumping up and down. "Thank you so much! Aw, thanks so much! Thank you so much! Thanks! So much!" She hugged Link, nearly knocking him down. Then she switched to hug Malon ferociously too. "Gaah! Sorry. GalGal, did you hear? You're mine!" She hugged him around the neck, surprising him too. "Oh-thank you, Malon!"

"He's been planning this since the day you met Galaxy. Actually before that. The whole reason he came here that day when you picked Galaxy was so you could pick out a horse you liked. That gave him an idea of which horse to…um…" she refrained from saying, "buy," just as Link had told her to, "get for you."

That was the reason Link had gone to Lon Lon Ranch that time, without Meghan. He had gone to ask Malon if he could purchase a horse for her.

"Galaxy. Can you believe this? You're mine now! Now we can go on all sorts of adventures and stuff! This is great! Oh, I love you, Galaxy." She hugged him again. She stopped then turned to Link. "I lo—thank you!" she said happily, throwing her arms up, stopping herself before she said incriminating words that she barely realized she was saying. It was true, but this almost-proclamation was merely an almost-proclamation of platonic, grateful love, something she might have shouted at one of her friends from home. She was still in that awkward mode where someone likes someone and doesn't want to reveal exactly how she feels…uh.

Plus, Malon was standing there. Malon thought she meant it just that platonic way, too, not really realizing the extent of their feelings. Link assumed, however, that although she said it in a comical way, she meant it for its true meaning. Which she actually hadn't.

"Of course, Meghan, if you ever want to leave Galaxy and his tack here, feel free to. His tack is in the tack room. But the stables at the castle are very nice. I'm sure he'll be happy there as well."

"Don't worry Malon, I think he'd like it here better! I'll go get it." Meghan skipped away.

"Thanks again, Malon," Link said.

"Of course," she said, smiling. Meghan came back a few seconds later with Galaxy's saddle and other things. She put everything on while Link found Epona. When he came back with her, Meghan mounted Galaxy and Link did the same with Epona.

"Bye, Malon, thank you so much!" Meghan said.

"You're welcome! Bye Meghan! Bye Link!"

"Bye," Link said.

Meghan rushed out of Lon Lon Ranch, ready to explode at Link for doing that.

"Gaah! Link! You spent your money on getting me a horse? Why? I mean, I love Galaxy oh so much, but…"

"Meghan, it's your birthday, relax."

"I know but-"

"Relax."

"Yeah but-"

"Relax!"

"OK!" She calmed. They rode around the field, not going too far. Meghan was now excited that she wouldn't have to give Galaxy back to Malon at the end of the day, for real.

They eventually made their way to the place where Meghan remembered first being in Hyrule. Straight out of nowhere, seeing Link playing his ocarina.

"Link, what song were you playing?"

"What? When?"

"When I first saw you."

"I don't…remember."

"Wasn't it…the Song of…Time? I think it was. But…" She hadn't known the song then, but she _thought_ it stuck with her.

"Yeah?"

"What if it wasn't?" Suddenly she was freaking out about not knowing. "I can't remember!"

"Whoa, calm down! It's not the end of the world. Anyway, I think you're right."

"Good." Meghan dismounted. Link followed. "I like that song."

"It's fitting, too. It just reminds me of how fast time goes…and…sometimes it makes me sad. Even though I am who I am…" he was too modest to say "Hero of Time," "I can't control it. Time just slips through our fingers." He held his hand up with his palm upward and his fingers spread apart slightly, as if to pretend that time was slipping through them. The sands of time…

"But that's not an issue," he said suddenly. "Time is also our friend, for without it, we'd be bored to death!"

Meghan laughed. "You are definitely not having any more melon things."

"Aw, no..."

"Hmph," she laughed. "But I like you like this. I like to see you happy. Sad doesn't suit you!"

"Hey, you're 'hyper' most of the time, why not give me a chance?" He grinned. Then he said seriously, "I just feel like a huge burden is gone. I feel lighter. I feel free. Just to know that the world is safe, everyone in it is safe. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, Link. I do." And she was so glad that he did feel that way.

Meghan dismounted and sat on the wall, her hands behind her butt and her right leg crossed over her left. Link, of course, followed her and sat next to her. Meghan watched Galaxy graze.

"Link, thank you so much. That was definitely the best gift I have ever received."

"Ever? I'm sure _something_ was better."

"Nope. Nothing comes close." How do you even compare something to the gift of a _life_? She swore to take perfect care of that horse, if it was the last thing she did.

"What about this?" he asked, taking out something. She turned her head, not yet expecting anything, but then she realized what he was talking about.

"But Link! I told you not to get me anything!" She flung her arms around his neck, her legs becoming uncrossed, squeezing him tight without even taking what he was going to give her.

"Goddesses, you're choking me."

"Sorry," she said, letting go.

"So I assume you like it?"

"Yeah…I do! A lot! Thank you! But Galaxy is _still_ better." He handed the object to her. She examined it.

It was the necklace she had seen in the bazaar, with the lady who had tricked Meghan into thinking she didn't speak English. It had a silver chain and a silver pendant. The pendant was a treble clef, and it had diamonds along it. She _had_ loved it, but she couldn't have asked him for it.

"Remember the day you saw it?"

"And the lady really _could_ speak English, but you lied to me!" she joked.

"It's yours."

"Thank you, thank you so much!" she said, trying to undo the clasp to put it on. She was having a bit of trouble, and it was embarrassing.

"Hey, let me try," he said quietly, gently pulling the necklace from her hands. He quickly undid the clasp. He looked up. She knew that he was going to put it on for her, so she pulled her hair to the side. He reached forward, but didn't put it on.

"I never really wanted to ask before, but I hope you don't mind. Why do you wear these?" He fingered the bottom most choker she had on. She always wore those three black necklaces. He'd never seen her without them. She put her hand over his.

"I don't know," she said frankly. "I've had them on since I was…like, thirteen, I think. I'm surprised they didn't fall off."

"That's quite a long time."

"It's around the time I started wearing black."

"That explains it," he said.

"I think it was a bit before, though. I put this one on," she moved her hand from on top of his, allowing him to pull away, and touched the lower, looser bottom one. At this point, she turned and sat cross-legged on the wall. He followed suit and sat with one leg on either side of the wall. "You can tell. I've had it the longest, I mean. Then I put this one on," she touched the next upper one, which looked like the bottom one, only it was slighter thicker and tighter and higher on her neck. "And then the third one." It had an inter-weaving pattern that became thinner if you pulled more, and thicker if it had less strain. "But you didn't really want to hear that."

"No," he said, leaning forward and putting his hands around her neck to put the necklace on, "I enjoy hearing about you," he whispered in her ear, as she felt him close the clasp on the necklace on the back of her neck. He brought his hands back to himself, sliding the across the skin of her neck.

She gasped, not expecting him to do something so…

Those were those eyes. Those hypnotizing eyes. She suddenly knew that look. She could feel the color rising in her cheeks, remembering the way he'd looked at her…

…After…

…It had happened. After yesterday.

She finally knew what it meant, and it wasn't a mere guess.

He wanted…

His lips met hers. She didn't know what to do. She had only been kissed once before, that time yesterday, but that was merely on impulse, and she was barely paying attention to the technique of it at the time.

In her confusion, she pulled away. He gave her a strange look, and she feared to have upset him.

"I'm sorry, Link. I'm just...confused." She looked down. "I don't know what to do. Sorry if I offended you! I've just never been…nobody's ever done that to me before, except yesterday. I didn't want you to stop but I don't know what to do!" she said exasperatedly. Her expression changed to one that looked like she was about to cry.

His shocked and hurt look faded away, as he smiled. She looked sorry for breaking away. "That's OK," he said. "I've never either. So if we mess up, we can't blame anybody."

He had said it in such a cheerful voice that she looked up at him. Meghan was a bit uncomfortable with the topic. But he made it better.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for understanding. I didn't mean to…it's just…"

"No, but seriously, Meg, relax! Why do you think I would care?" There was a barely tangible pause, "I love you!"

It was also awkward that…well, the fact that somebody loved her. She never thought, in any of her sixteen years, that anyone would. But now…he was here, and that was all that mattered.

"Thank you, Link. I'll keep this treasured forever. I...love you too."

_Don't doubt you feelings…_

"Yep," he said comically. He traced her cheek with his fingers affectionately.

She smiled, wondering if he was going to try again. Then she laughed. "I'll race you on GalGal again!"

"Fine, but you know I'll win."

"We'll see about that…" She stood up and clutched the necklace, walking over to the grazing horses. "Gal! We're gonna race!" she said in his ear. Galaxy lifted his head up and looked at her with dark, blue eyes. "We're going to beat the pants off the very same person who gave us so much." Galaxy looked at her as though to say that they had a very little chance. "I know, but we can do it!" He snorted. "Good boy!"

She looked at Link, doing the same thing. Psyching up his horse. She mounted.

"OK, where are we going?"

"Let's go to the desert. The first one over the bridge wins."

"That's far."

"Waaaiiitt!" came a tiny voice, whizzing closer and closer. Meghan and Link turned their heads in the direction of the voice and saw a bright ball coming toward them.

"Navi!" Meghan cried, laughing at the fairy.

Navi zoomed right up into her face, so close that Meghan could see the details of her face. "Happy _birthday_!" she squeaked. She was holding something tiny in her itty bitty hands. It was a tiny, green flower, so small Meghan was afraid she'd crush it. Navi held it out to her.

"Navi, that's so cute! So tiny!"

"No, you're just _big_!" she laughed, still holding the flower. "It's a good luck charm."

Meghan reached out and took the little flower, which fit between her thumb and forefinger easily. Meghan smiled widely, contemplating what wonders there were in this world. She carefully put the charm into her pocket.

"Thank you Navi!" She reached her hands out, wanting to gather the bitty girl in a hug. She pulled Navi to her face, kissing the top of her head.

"Navi, want to judge our race?" Link asked, smiling. Navi zoomed to him.

"Yeah!" She flew around excitedly. "Line up!" Navi said, flying in front of them. "Get ready…GO!" Meghan and Link pushed the horses forwards, leaving Navi in the dust.

Meghan didn't want to push Gal too hard, so she paced him. Link seemed to be getting ahead. But she didn't care. It was merely the beginning!

"Galaxy, we have to win this no matter what." She knew she was being rash, but…

She was a bit behind Link, Galaxy's head near Epona's saddle. But she didn't care just yet.

Then she found herself daydreaming…

_It's not like you see it all the time on TV…his kisses are gentle…soft…nice. Not "Hey, I'm eating your face! Eat mine!" But I suppose those are all actors...they are missing a certain passion, aren't they? Or maybe we just haven't kissed enough... No…oh, wait! What am I thinking? I need to finish this race!_ She felt herself blushing. She was happy Link wasn't looking. She looked down at Galaxy's neck, the wind blowing her hair all over the place, cooling her off.

As she looked down, she remembered Link and how hyper he was this morning. Then she remembered the melon, and had a sudden craving for watermelon, her favorite fruit.

She shook the thought away. _Need to focus on the darn race!_ She was catching up to Link and Epona now. Navi flew excitedly between them, weaving in and out of the legs of the horses.

"We're almost there!" Navi said.

"What the heck are you talking about, Navi? We're not even halfway there!"

"I know but this is boring." She flew in front of Meghan's face.

"Sorry!"

"No, just kidding." She flew away, laughing.

"What was that about?" Meghan asked

"She's just crazy," Link said, smiling. Meghan could tell it was a smile even from her position slightly behind him.

"Am not!"

"Oh, don't worry, Navi. We're all crazy. Join the bunch!" Meghan yelled joyously.

"Fine." She flew to Meghan, settling in the fold between Meghan's shirt and skin, her arms and head out so she could watch the progress of the race.

They once again rode in silence, for most of the way there. Meghan could see the sweat forming on Epona and Galaxy's coats, but they were about three quarters of the way there.

The desert sands came in view, and Meghan sighed with relief. Only a bit more to go…

She was still holding her position slightly behind Link. Now Meghan knew she had to get ahead, because the end was near.

"Come on, Gal!"

Link looked back at her, and then smiled his mischievous smile.

"You'll never catch up."

"Oh…I won't?" But already she was going faster. She was nearly in line with Link.

"This is going to be close!" squeaked Navi.

"Yeah," Meghan started, looking at Link, whose face was directly across from hers, and smiling a devious smile while narrowing her eyes, "but I conquer all."

"Since when?"

"Since now!" There was about twenty yards before the field's grass intermingled with the desert's sand. They were neck and neck. "And I'd be careful this time, Link. You know what happened last time when we tried to fit in a rough spot," she said deviously.

The memory came clear to him…

Link became scared of what could happen this time. If they fell off…it would be down into the river. _If she landed wrong…she could get seriously hurt…and even before that is the little bridge…_

"Meg, I think we should change our finishing place. It could be dangerous, like last time."

"No! Danger is fun! Except when you're in it…"

"Exactly! Can we please change it?"

"What…are you _scared_?"

"No! I'm not scared for myself. I'm scared for you! The bridge isn't wide enough for two horses!" He was already slowing.

"Then the first one to cross it wins!" she taunted.

"Meghan, stop it! Listen to me!" he said seriously, ready to stop Epona if not for the fact that she kept going.

"Fine!"

"The first one past the last fence before the bridge wins."

"Fine." She was silent from then on, silently coaxing Galaxy. Link relaxed, again pushing Epona.

"Thanks for listening to me."

"Yup," she said distractedly. They were nearer to the finish than she had anticipated, so now it was time to see what Galaxy really had in him.

"Come on, Gal! Time to show those wusses what the underdogs can do!" Galaxy's pace quickened to an all-out run. Meghan held tight to the reins, as they passed Epona and Link.

The best part was that Link wasn't even holding back. Meghan and Galaxy were winning on their own power.

"Yes! Galaxy, we're doing it! For once! We're beating them!" Meghan whispered to him. She felt the heavy pounding of Galaxy's hooves against the ground. She was _winning._ There were only a few feet keeping her from victory.

She could see the finish…she could imagine the rush of winning. It was so close…

…And with a surge of glory, she passed it nearly a whole horse in front of Link. They passed into the valley, the horses damp with much sweat and breathing heavily. The horses walked around for a few minutes to cool down, then they both dismounted, patting their horses and loosening their girths. Then they walked to each other and embraced each other, falling to the floor and breathing as though they had just been the ones to run the whole way.

"Congratulations," said the boy. He held her tight in his arms.

"Thank you," said the girl, savoring his embrace. And they were very happy people.

Especially Meghan.

She breathed in his scent…it was so…nice. Her face was buried in his shoulder. She couldn't explain it, but she wanted more. It was sweet and slightly woody. But she thought she would look freaky breathing him in…so she stopped. Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You…you…I…I…I don't know!"

He laughed too. They pulled away, sitting opposite one another Meghan took a handful of sand absentmindedly and dumped it on his shoe. He didn't seem to mind. The sand was finer and more powdery than beach sand.

"Hmm…" he said suddenly, taking her hand after she'd poured the sand. "I just remembered. I ran into Zelda this morning…"

* * *

Link walked towards the small stand, selling the flowers that he intended to buy for Meghan. In his hand was a half eaten melon.

"Link! Oh thank goddesses I found you!"

"Sheik?" Link turned. Zelda was in the form of Sheik.

"Link! I have to tell you something! I know that today is Meghan's birthday. So I have something to give her! And I have something planned too, as long as you don't have something planned. Can I tell you? But you must not tell her. Is she here?" She nervously glanced around.

Link stared at her as though thinking, then smiled. "What? Nope. She's still sleeping." It was still early, but he'd woken up an hour or so ago, after that dream…

He tossed the melon up then caught it. "So what's the plan?" Sheik leaned in towards him and told of her diabolical (not really) plan in Hylian. Link nodded and smiled every once in a while.

"I don't know…I don't know if she'll like it…she'll absolutely _hate_ it…let's do it!"

"Good! Thanks." Then she eyed him in a scrutinizing way. Besides the fact that he was eating a kamamelon, he seemed so happy. _So_ happy. And she felt it. There was a lightness in his soul that she…could just sense. She was sure that this had a lot to do with Meghan. The two…they were close. She didn't want to assume just how close, but her thoughts were not far from the truth. She had gone to Meghan's room, but it hadn't seemed like Meghan was there. And now, Link knew she was sleeping? She couldn't be sleeping in the castle…

"Yup, yup, yup, yup…" he said, waving his hand.

"Link…is that a kamamelon?"

"What? Oh, yeah."

"Shame on you." Suddenly she broke off a piece and ate it. "Not sharing. Well…see you!" Sheik skipped (and it did look weird) back to the castle.

"…She wanted you to go to the castle later."

"OK."

"We should start going. By the time we have put the horses away, it will be time to be there." They stood up.

* * *

**-~- Later at Lon Lon Ranch…**

Meghan and Link brought Epona and Galaxy into their stalls. Meghan carefully groomed Galaxy, starting with the rougher brush she took from the bucket of grooming supplies. Then she removed the dirt with the soft one.

She heard the door open behind her. Malon walked in.

"Hi, Malon!"

"Meghan, I nearly forgot. Your present! Here, these are for you." Malon gave her a square package, wrapped in brown paper. Meghan giggled. _Birthdays must be so important in Hyrule...I've never been so showered with gifts…_

"Malon, you shouldn't have."

"You need to open it before you say that!" Malon joked. She heard Link chuckle.

"Fine." Meghan carefully tore the paper back, not wanting to seem greedy. Inside was a box. She opened the box. Inside were pretty new brushes for Galaxy, in a dark stained wood, with galaxy's name engraved along the edges. Meghan swooned over the brushes.

"Oh, thank you Malon!"

"Oh, that was just a tiny side project of mine. One more thing," Malon said. Meghan realized her other hand was still behind her back. She brought it where Meghan could see. "A new saddle blanket to match. Now you can give me mine back," she joked. Meghan nearly jumped up and down, though she felt bad! She took the present as Malon handed it to her. It was plain black and had "Galaxy" sewn into the top in silver thread. Not fancy, but it was beautiful and wonderful.

"Malon, thank you so much!" Meghan skipped forward and hugged her.

"Of course! It's your birthday. Now, you'll have to excuse me. I left the stove on with my dinner. Happy birthday!"

"Thank you so much, Malon!"

But Meghan did not know that, instead of returning to her house, Malon mounted her own horse who was waiting outside the door and rode off to the castle.

"Come on, Sepira, we don't have much time! Link will hold her off for as long as possible." She smiled to herself.

_Hylians love birthdays._

* * *

Meghan took one of the new brushes and brushed Galaxy's mane and tail out. She'd always told herself that if she had a horse, she'd braid it and stuff to make it all pretty. She started doing a French braid on his tail. She stood slightly to the side (not directly behind him) as she braided it even though she was sure Galaxy wouldn't harm her. Meghan did her best to make the braid as neat as possible, but she couldn't help that little strands fell out here and there. When she was done, she started to panic because she had nothing to tie it with. She rummaged around in the box of grooming supplies, looking for something. Near the bottom, she found lengths of ribbon. She sighed with relief, tying the braid to the best of her ability.

"_Malon thinks of everything_," she whispered to the ribbons. "_I'll get better_," she whispered to the braid. She moved to his mane. She made lots of tiny, tight braid on his mane. His hair was beautiful to work with. It was black, thick, and shiny. Horsehair had often reminded her of hay. His reminded her of…silk.

She glanced over to Link, to make sure she wasn't taking too long. Galaxy seemed to be enjoying himself.

She was reassured when she realized that Link was still grooming Epona. After all, she was a bigger horse.

Meghan left Galaxy in his stall and walked to Epona's. The door had closed on its own, so she leaned over it.

"Are you done?" he asked, finishing brushing by her bottom.

"Yup." She observed Epona's white, silky hair. The color was like the opposite of Galaxy's. She reached out and stroked Epona's face, as Link put away the brushes. He let himself out and they walked out of the stable.

"So what did Zelda want me for?"

"Oh, come on! It's not too hard to guess."

Meghan snorted. "You're right. _Zelda_," she said in a mock angry voice. "Hey Link."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you so much."

He smiled. "Anytime. Who else do I have to pamper on her birthday?"

She giggled. Soon they were at the castle. There seemed to be a lot going on. People were coming in and out of the castle.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," he lied. Because he obviously knew exactly what. "Let's get inside."

"All right…" They avoided people, making their way into the castle.

"Zelda said to meet her in her room."

"OK." Meghan led the way to her room. Link knocked on it.

"Come in, Link, Meghan." They opened the door slowly. Zelda sat in her sitting room, alone. "Wonderful to see you." She stood up.

"Hi Zelda. What's with all the people?"

"They are here to help me do things." She grinned widely.

Meghan was about to ask, "_That_ many people?" but held back.

"Now. Let me get to the reason I asked you to come here." Zelda walked to the back of the room. Meghan was unsure whether to follow her or not, but Link stayed where he was, so she did too.

"This is for you." She turned around with a case in her hands.

"Zelda!" she said, as Zelda handed it to her.

Zelda smiled. "Open it, go ahead."

The case was black and hard. It was long and rectangular. Meghan undid the two silver clasps.

She slowly opened the case, not knowing what to expect inside. She was surprised.

"It's so beautiful!" she cried, looking at the pieces of a silver flute. She looked at it, remembering the sound of a flute. She gently fingered the keys, which were similar to the one she had, but a bit different. She figured she'd figure it out, though. "Thank you so much." She had so many memories surge back to her. It was beautiful. "My gosh, Zelda. Thanks so much."

"Of course." Zelda and Link looked at each other. Zelda gave the tiniest nod. Link nodded back.

"M-"

"Oh, yeah. There was something I wanted to show you guys in my room. I don't know Hylian so I couldn't understand it. Could you guys help me? Translate for me?"

"Yeah!" Link said. That was perfect, because her room was exactly where they wanted her to go.

"Meghan, I must decline. I must go help all the people who came. Perhaps later I will join you."

"OK." Meghan said, slightly disappointed.

"Wonderful! Now you two run along!" Zelda said, smiling greatly. They turned and left, Meghan grasping her present tightly in her hands. "You can come out now," Zelda said. The door to her bedroom opened and revealed a group of girls.

Nabooru, Narma, Saria, Malon, and Dia (holding Saria's hand) made up the group.

"That was close," Saria said.

"Good thing Malon saw them coming," Nabooru said, elbowing the other ginger. Malon blushed.

"Good. Now we need to get back to what we were doing. Is it ready, everybody?" They nodded. "Wonderful. Now, Dia, do you remember what you are to do?"

"Yes, Princess Zelda."

"Come here." Zelda kneeled down to Dia's height as she ran over to her. "Good girl. Now, we are going to wait a little bit." She explained her new plan to Dia. "Can you do this for me?"

"Yes!"

* * *

**lolz boring chapter sowwy! XD**


	29. Remix: Economic Stimulus Package

**I'm soooo sorry for how long this took! It's been exactly one month. ;_; I'm going to give you a million excuses now. Not only have I been beyond busy lately, but this chapter is also almost the longest one in the whole story, and is also maybe the most boring. Part of me really wanted to take it out in the rewrite, but doing so would erase the start of the birthday tradition in the series…which I can't really part with. :) Alsoooo, because I'm been so busy, I've been working on this less obviously, and it's a positive feedback loop because the less I work on it, the less I generally want to. The converse is true (the more I work on it, the more obsessed I become) and neither side is good, cause I don't want to lose interest again, and I also don't want to be obsessed with this as I was over winter break, so I don't know. Lolz. OK. I'm done. Now for this awful, stupid chapter. XD (but I do think the ending is cute :D)**

* * *

Meghan let Link into her room.

"It's over here!" She walked over to the desk, pulling out one of the drawers and opening the false bottom. She pulled out the diary and letters.

"What is this?"

"I don't know. I think there's something in that book that can tell us. There's a girl. She wrote letters to Impa." She handed the book to Link, who walked over to the couch and sat down, opening the book.

He observed the first page. It was dated, back to almost exactly eight years ago. As he read the contents, his expression turned very serious.

"What does it say?" she questioned, sitting at the chair of the desk. It wasn't a roll-y or swirly chair so she had to turn it around.

_Prisoner of war. Distrusted. Family lost. _The depressing words that started the journal grabbed his attention immediately, sparking in him his innate savior-mode. He read a few pages quickly in silence, Meghan eager to know what was going on.

He knew at that point what it was, shock bursting from his insides as he read. He didn't want to worry Meghan about it now. Perhaps tomorrow he would tell her. "It's not important right now," he declared, giving her a small smile and closing the book firmly.

"No! Come on! Tell me! Ugh, I hate when you don't tell me what things mean!" Not that he was required to or anything.

"I-" But then they heard a small knock at the door. Very quiet. It was persistent. Link got up and opened the door, knowing exactly what to do.

"Mister Link! My brother and some boys are in a fight and they need you to stop them and please come because they're hurting each other!" The child who was at the door started to cry. Meghan saw it was Dia, that little girl they'd played with in Hyrule Castle Town yesterday.

_Yesterday_…had it been only yesterday that she'd thought her world was going to end?

"Meghan, I'll be right back. You stay here. It'll only take a few minutes."

"I'll come," she said as though it was a no brainer.

"No, stay here with Dia." He rushed out, looking like he was on a mission.

"OK…" That was one of the few times he had been so assertive with her. And she wondered how Dia was here and how she knew where Meghan lived...odd. And where was _Link_ going? Dia hadn't even said where they were!

Meghan held her hand out to the girl standing in the doorway. "Dia, come sit with me, OK?" Dia took her hand. Meghan put her hand on the door, about to close it, unaware that, waiting just around the corner, were Zelda, the other girls, Luke, and now Link.

"She's yours," Link said.

"All right. Come on," Saria said. Malon was holding something long carefully, while Nabooru had a small, wooden box. They went to the door and just before Meghan closed it. Link, Zelda, and Luke went the opposite way down the hallway.

"Meghan! Darling, happy birthday!" Nabooru said, pushing her way into the room. Meghan nodded, staring in disbelief.

"You didn't tell _me_ it was going to be your birthday when I saw you on Friday!" Narma accused.

_There are two Gerudos in the room. That is not good. What…? I don't even wanna know._ She saw Saria and Malon in the bunch.

"Meghan, we have something for you to try on," Malon said, holding the wrapped thing she was holding slightly out. Meghan stared at it.

Girls + trying on clothes + Meghan (shopaphobic) + Gerudos = Meghan runs away forever.

"Um…" They were all smiling at her expectantly. Even Dia was looking at her. "Why?" she finally said.

"Well, you need to try it on in case you ever need to wear it," Malon said. Meghan wasn't convinced.

"O…K…and may I ask what it is?"

"So you're agreeing to try it on?" Nabooru asked.

"I just want to know what it is that I'm trying on," she said skeptically. She had noticed the box in Nabooru's hands as well as what Malon held.

"You must agree first." Nabooru was looking at her with hard, don't-take-no-bullcrap eyes.

"You gotta tell me what it is first."

"Agree?"

"Uh, no. Tell me. Please?" She was smiling a nervous smile.

"No." No smile back. Meghan was slightly scared. But the others were laughing.

"Tell me?" she begged. She stood up. Dia scrambled to Saria. "Or I'll find out by myself?" Meghan stared into Nabooru's eyes, not afraid.

"No."

Meghan was beaten. There were many girls surrounding her. She sighed.

"Fine."

"Good. Follow us." Nabooru started walking, confidently, towards Meghan's bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I don't think you're going to change out here, in the open." She was right. There were large windows beside her desk, and a door to the balcony in the room.

"Fine." She walked after Nabooru, followed by the others. "But I hope you realize I'm also not getting changed in front of you, for whatever it is." She would feel too self conscious! Especially in front of all these beautiful, thin, and (in Nabooru and Narma's case) buxom beauties.

"Why not? We're all girls here."

"But I'm…a human." Someone behind her wiggled her ear. Oops, she actually wasn't. She forgot. She couldn't use that as an excuse anymore...

"Not anymore," Narma said. "I don't know how this happened, but it's a little sad that you grew out of short ears…"

Nabooru's malicious yellow eyes stared at her, smiling. She knew Meghan was losing rapidly.

Meghan begrudgingly stepped into her own room, practically held captive.

Meghan was stuck with two Gerudos, who may as well could have been foaming at the mouth, a shy Hylian animal lover, who could be strict as anything in a second, and a short little kid who was really not a kid and mature for her "age."

"This better be good," Meghan said, trying her best to sound uncompromising and firm. She crossed her arms. They just kinda laughed at her. She guessed she didn't seem so firm.

"Yes, it is!" Saria said. "It's beautiful!" Narma took the thing from Malon's hands. She took the protective bag-covering cloth thing from around it and held it so Meghan could see. Meghan stepped back into the corner, trying to emphasize her despise.

"No. Way. No fricken way. No."

"Aw, come on!" Saria pleaded. "You'll look lovely!"

…The thing they had uncovered was a gown, even worse than the dress she had to wear the other day to dinner with Zelda and Luke. It was black, silky, but slightly poofy on the bottom and all around just waaaay toooooo girrllyyy ohmuhgaawwddd.

She covered her face, shielding her eyes from its horror.

"Get it away!" she hissed. She felt two strong hands grab her arms and pull her away from the wall. She opened her eyes to see Narma and Nabooru, each tugging at an arm and bringing her to Malon, who was holding the dress again, a sweet smile on her face. "Tell me why I have to withstand this torture on my birthday."

"You'll see."

"What are you doing? It's kinda scary when you plan things, Nabooru."

"But I didn't plan it. Zelda did."

Those words made Meghan slightly less resistant. "Really?"

"Yes," Saria confirmed. Malon nodded and Narma muttered, "mm-hmm."

"OK…"

"Great! She'll cooperate! Amazing how she listens to Zelda but not us," Nabooru said. "Well, take those clothes off."

"In _front_ of you?"

"Why not? We need to help you put it on anyway. It's a real pain, do you know what I mean?"

She crossed her arms. "No. Either you leave, or I'm not getting dressed."

"Oh, yes, we should probably throw you in the bath too…"

"No!" Her eyes opened wide. Nooo, not _naked_.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea. In fact, yes…yes…"

"Yes ma'am!" Saria, Narma and Malon said, taking Meghan by her arms.

"_Resistance is futile_," Narma whispered playfully in her ear. Meghan shivered at her cold, harsh voice. They passed by Dia in the main room on their way to the bathroom. Meghan wondered why the bathroom wasn't attached to her room. Now, when she needed it to be.

Nabooru left the dress on her bed and grabbed some things from her drawers, helping herself to everything. Saria stayed behind to sit with Dia.

They got the water running and the bath filled. Now was the hard part. Getting Meghan in.

"Come on, Meghan. It's your birthday. Don't wanna waste it."

"Why are you torturing me like this?" She backed into the corner, slowly being followed by the others. She hit the wall and had nowhere left to run.

"There. Now, take off any things you wouldn't want to get wet," Nabooru demanded.

"No!" She felt like crying. "I'll take the bath by myself! I promise!"

"Please!" Malon cried. It was only because she had no contempt for Malon and didn't want to disappoint her, that she considered obliging.

"…Eeruuuh…" she moaned. They nodded in approval. She bent down, still watching everyone, and undid her boots, easing them off and pushing them to the side.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Put these on," Nabooru said while holding out some clothes. She snatched them from her and examined them. Her eyes narrowed in disgust. She wondered where the heck Nabooru had found them. She was holding a frilly white undershirt and frilly white underwear. "Go ahead."

"Can you at least turn around, please?" she said, pointing to the opposite wall. Malon was the first to turn, and soon after, Narma. Nabooru looked scathingly at her, then turned.

Meghan almost didn't do it. _Whatever this is, Zelda planned it, so I know it's not their fault. Still, I wish they would tell me. Are we, like, going to go somewhere? Why do I have to wear that hideous gown thing? Darn them. I know it's my birthday, but I'd rather just spend it quietly...and where did Link even go? Why isn't he rescuing me? Is he in on this? He must be!He wouldn't let this happen…unless he was in on it!_

She slowly slid off her shirt, trying to make as little noise as possible. She kept her eyes on them as much as possible, making sure they didn't turn.

She could sneak over to the bathtub. The way it was designed, she could sneak past Nabooru if she was quiet, jump in, and when they heard the splash; they would never have to see her. Perfect.

She snuck over to the bath. Nabooru caught her just before she hopped in, but the others didn't. She still got in safely.

"Meghan!"

"Leave me alone! Can't I take a bath by myself? I just turned sixteen!" She was smiling, but she still felt uncomfortable. Bah, and she did need to take a bath, but she _could do it herself_. Srsly.

"Nope," Malon said, grinning. Nabooru was checking out her collection of shampoos and things. She found some things she liked and brought them over to Meghan.

"I'll wash the unruly hair of yours. First you'll need to get it wet." Only the bottom half of her hair had gotten wet enough. "Put your head under the water."

She obliged.

Nabooru grabbed Meghan's head and pulled back her hair. Meghan cringed. She felt Nabooru scrubbing her head. Scary. Can you imagine the torture? She pushed her hair back from her face, blowing water away from her mouth.

"All finished." Malon stepped up to her with a bathrobe.

"Everybody turn around!"

"Why? You have clothes on."

"Please." Malon handed it to her and they turned Meghan stood up and wrapped it around herself, still dripping wet. She stepped out of the bathtub, squeezing her hair so the water came out. She was dragged back into the main sitting area.

"Sit in the chair." Nabooru said, pulling the chair from the desk to her.

"Gee, you'd think there'd be a whole room in this castle for doing hair…and another for makeup…" Meghan joked, almost sitting.

"There is one, for both though. We just thought you'd be most comfortable here."

Meghan's jaw dropped.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…"

"Do you want to go there?"

"How come I don't know about it?"

"You only just moved here."

"And you know better than me?"

"Naturally, Zelda told us about it."

Meghan nodded. "OK. I'll cooperate." She had no idea why she just did that, but somehow…it seemed fun.

"Come this way." Nabooru didn't walk to the door. She walked towards the bathroom.

"It's in _here_?"

"Where else?" Nabooru stepped inside the bathroom, then over to the side. It was a big room, and Meghan had to admit she didn't look through the whole thing. There was a corner, where she had backed into earlier.

Beside it, sure enough, a door was there. Inside, there were things you might find in an outdated beauty salon. A large mirror, a tall chair, and a vanity. She sat in the chair.

"_Weird_."

She closed her eyes.

Someone started combing her hair. Another took one of her hands and did something to her nails. Another she felt breathing in her face, putting makeup on her. Somebody took her other hand.

It felt better than she ever expected. She opened her eyes for a second when whoever was doing her makeup stepped away for a second. She saw Saria at her right hand and Malon at her left. Narma seemed to be doing her makeup. She was getting a new mixture of colors of makeup at the table. She couldn't tell, but she assumed Nabooru was doing her hair. Dia stared at her with big, wide little child eyes. Meghan smiled at her. Dia smiled back.

She observed Dia's dirty blonde and slightly curly hair which flowed down to her shoulers. It wasn't over-thick, just little girl hair curly. She had brown eyes and cute, small, pointy ears. Meghan wondered why she was here. Maybe she was to child of one of Zelda's ladies-in-waiting? She was very pretty.

Just then, Nabooru flopped a large piece of hair into her face. Narma whined, complaining that her makeup was ruined. Nabooru ignored her, obviously used to it, and continued to do her hair. Meghan wondered what she was doing to it. Malon and Saria chatted very sweetly to each other, and Meghan wondered if they were already friends.

She looked to the side at her hand. Saria was shaping her fingernails. Malon was done with that part and started putting on polish.

"I didn't know that you have nail polish," she said, thinking it was a more modern thing.

"Nail polish? What's that?" Malon asked.

"Um…never mind. It's basically the same as that." But what Malon was putting on was not in a bottle. It was in a circular, pot-like thing. The brush was thin, but long. She looked away, and then felt the cold sensation of polish being applied.

Nabooru pulled the big piece of hair from her face, but then Narma told her to close her eyes, so she did. Soon she felt the other hand getting nail polish, then the two left her hands and told her not to move them for a while. She let her arms drape over the arms of the chair.

Before she knew it, they said they were all done. She opened her eyes as they stepped back and admired their work. Meghan didn't really like them looking at her.

"Come on, now! It's time to put-I mean, try that pretty gown of yours on!" Saria said cheerfully.

"It's not that bad!" Malon said, laughing gently.

"Yeah! It's really pretty!" Saria said.

"I think you'll look beautiful in it," Dia said in a shy, tiny voice.

"Thank you, Dia. You're so courageous. Now I have the strength I need to do it. Come on, then." She really felt better after hearing the girl say that. She didn't want to let Dia down.

They walked back to her bedroom, the gown waiting expectantly on the bed. Meghan abhorred the sight of it, but walked toward it.

"Do your worst," she muttered, closing her eyes and waiting for the horde to overtake her. She did not struggle.

**~Halfway Through Getting Changed…~**

"We need to take these off." Nabooru put her hands on the back of Meghan's neck, where her necklaces' clasps were.

"Don't even think about it!" Meghan said, turning so quickly, she knocked Nabooru's hand off. "Oops, sorry!"

Nabooru put her hands on her hips and stared at Meghan disapprovingly.

**~A Few Minutes Later~**

"There!" Nabooru said, once again taking a step back to admire her. Meghan looked at Saria. She smiled and winked. Malon smiled and tilted her head to one side cutely. Narma nodded her head in approval. Dia looked up, wide-eyed, and had a little smile on her face.

"Perfect. Now, Zelda wanted us to try things on too, so we'll take a quick stop in our rooms and dress quickly. Don't touch anything as we walk through the hall-don't touch yourself." Meghan nearly laughed at the remark. _Sure, I won't touch myself. _

"Hurry! We can't let anybody see you in the halls! We promised Zelda…uh…she would be the first to see you!" Malon said. Saria and Malon gingerly took her hands and led her out to the hall, checking to be sure that no one was coming.

"But I haven't even seen myself! You didn't even let me look to see if I like anything!"

They raced down the hallway, ignoring her, but making sure Meghan didn't trip on her gown, and then forced her into another room.

It wasn't as big as hers, but basically had the same layout. The group, except Meghan, rushed into the doors in the room. There were many different doors. Saria and Dia went into the same one, though, as Nabooru and Narma did.

In a few minutes, they came out one by one. Narma and Nabooru first. They were dressed in similar outfits. Both had cream-colored, puffy pants and creamy slipper-like shoes. Nabooru had a red-orange halter top, intricately designed, and very low-cut. A large red jewel adorned her neck and came down to about her collarbone, along with multiple rings on her fingers. Narma wore a purple halter-top, though the pattern was a bit different and not so low-cut. She had a smaller purple jewel around her neck.

Next came Malon. She was blushing slightly, making her even more pretty.

"I'm not used to wearing such beautiful gowns," she said practically to herself as she hesitantly stepped out of the room. Meghan smiled at her. The gown brought out her beauty even more than the house dresses she wore around the horses. It was a light red, and had white lace accenting it in different spots, like on the sleeves, which came halfway down her arms, and in the front of the dress. It had a round cut-off on the top near her neck.

Then came Saria and Dia. Dia had a little pink dress on, with short, puffy sleeves. Lace lined the bottom of it, and Meghan could see little pink shoes underneath. She looked so cute! Saria had a beautiful green gown on. The front had two lines of lace running down, opening on the bottom to form a whole layer of lace before a satiny layer underneath. The color of the green perfectly matched her hair. She held onto Dia's little hand (though not much smaller than her own) and Meghan observed a green ring on her finger. Though Saria was young, she looked older beside Dia.

As though her whole observation of their clothes had been in slow motion, they all rushed to each other and started talking. Nabooru brought out makeup and other things, and they all picked partners and started putting makeup on.

Meghan was left out, as none of them would let her get near to the makeup in fear of staining the gown. Meghan inwardly laughed at this. The dress, except for a few parts, was black. But they still wouldn't let her. And they wouldn't even let her look at herself. When Meghan tried to sneak to look in a mirror Narma held, she snatched it from view and changed her position on the couch she was sitting on.

Meghan sighed and sat in the corner of the room.

She had long forgotten the feeling of being left out. Link always made sure she had a place. But she was still herself, no matter what transformations her body had undergone. She felt some forgotten shyness come creeping up into her core.

Finally, when she was just getting very bored, they stood up and went to her.

"So why are we all dressing up?"

"Like I said, Zelda wanted to see us all. There's something…in a few days…" Saria stopped talking.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Whatever." Meghan hung her head and followed them out the door. Did they think she was that stupid? Dia came to her side and pulled at her hand. Meghan looked down and smiled.

"So Dia, can you tell me where we're going?" She hoped that she would be able to get it out of her. Dia nodded. "Where?"

"It's a secret."

"Can I know the secret? I'm very good at keeping them."

"No. Princess Zelda said no."

"I see." Meghan bit her lip. This was going to stink. She was stuck with a whole bunch of people, in a long gown. She couldn't even see her feet. She was saved by the fact that it was black, but it still really stunk and she still had no idea what was _exactly_ going on.

Considering it was her birthday, she could kinda guess, but she didn't want to sound…I don't know, self centered if she guessed that and was wrong.

They came before a room with huge door. The doors reached all the way to the ceiling, which was about twelve feet tall. Two guards stood before the door. Meghan could have sworn she heard voices inside, and even, if she listened closely, music.

"We're here to see Princess Zelda," Nabooru said.

"Of course, she's been expecting you," the guard on the right said with a smirk. "Let me just…warn her of your arrival." Nabooru nodded and waited patiently as the guard slipped in the door. Meghan tried to see in, to see what room it was, but it was closed before she could move over. He had opened it very easily, so he was either very strong or the door was very light.

"Why can't we go in?" Meghan was angry that Nabooru didn't even protest to not being able to go in. Then again, why would she?

"Zelda may be in the middle of something important. We can't bother her if she is."

"But there are people talking and stuff in there. Why? And what is this room?" She put her hand, covered in a silky black glove, on the door. Nabooru jumped forward, afraid she was going to open it, but she didn't. Instead, she let go of Dia's hand and turned away. She walked a few steps. "I guess if you're not going to tell me, I'll just run back to my room. I'll find my sword and cut this gown to pieces. Then I'll run away. How about that?"

Narma and Nabooru took her hands. "Fine! He's coming back anyway. You'll see."

The soldier came back to the door, opening it. She couldn't see in from her angle, still, but He stood just inside the door where she could see and spoke.

"Announcing Miss Meghan Black, Sage of Earth."

At that point, Meghan broke free of their grasps, sputtering, "Damn you, Zelda…!" What the hell? She wasn't a sage! She tried to run the other way, but the Gerudo girls grabbed her again.

"Meghan! Wait!"

MEANWHILE…

"Announcing Miss Meghan Black, Sage of Earth." Link's ears perked up at the sound of her name. He excused his way through the crowd, trying to get to the doors to see her come in clearly. People let him pass, and soon he was at the beginning of the crowd. There was a marble staircase before the door. The doors were opened, but no one came out.

Then, he heard footsteps. Rushing footsteps, as though someone was running. He wasn't sure if anyone else heard, but after a few seconds of waiting, the people started whispering.

"Where is she?"

"I heard that she might not come."

Link sighed. _Of course she's coming, this is _her_ party. I knew she would hate it. I tried to tell Zelda…Meghan, don't this. Come on._ He put his head in his hand. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw something. She was there, outside the door! But she wasn't coming in. She was being so stealthy that no one else seemed to notice she was even there, but he did. Lifting his head slightly, he smiled. She smiled too, looking nervous. He beckoned her forward by nodding his head slightly.

Suddenly she appeared in the doorway. They all looked up and became silent. She walked forward hesitantly, grasping Malon and Saria tightly beside her as though shy. Then, as if on cue, everyone shouted, "Happy birthday!"

She covered her mouth, as if surprised. But really, she was smiling underneath.

She began to descend the staircase, looking down and away from the crowd, still clutching Saria and Malon for dear life, as Link absorbed every detail of her. First he noticed the dress. It was black. It covered her feet, but as she took a step down, he noticed dainty, black slippers. He looked up the dress and realized it was strapless. He never knew Meghan would wear such a thing. _She must have given them a hard time. _He was very happy when he noticed the necklace he had given her was still on her neck. Her chokers accompanied it. Some things never did change about her, he guessed.

On her arms were elbow-length black gloves. As she came closer, he noticed her hair was tucked into a neat style on the top of her head. Not a strand was out of place. Black lined her eyes, and her lips were luscious red. Her cheeks were slightly red (embarrassment or makeup?), her complexion perfect.

As she reached the last step, she ran forward to him and hug basically hug tackled him. (Even though he didn't fall over.)

"You knew about this?" she whispered to him.

"Of course," he said back.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically, but she actually meant it.

"Oh, don't thank me, thank Zelda. She came up with the whole idea." Smirk.

"OK, where is she?" She still didn't let go of him.

"Over there." He pointed to the end of the room (which was, she had realized, something like a ball room) and there was Zelda, on a dais, looking like a goddess above the people.

"I need to see her!" She was somewhat aware of people watching her, but there was nothing she could do to stop them. And although she didn't like to admit it, she loved this. There was this feeling of…she didn't know. People wanted to be there for her? She didn't even recognize most of them, though.

They let her through, making a path. Meghan went straight to Zelda.

Zelda smiled down at her, and beckoned with her head for Meghan to join her. She went up the two steps to Zelda, meeting her face to face.

"Thank you…Zelda."

Zelda smiled warmly.

"But really…Sage of Earth? Who thought that one up?" She tried to pretend to be angry, but was failing. She was smirking. It was kinda ridiculous.

Zelda pointed at Link. He pretended not to notice, slowly walking the other way.

Meghan ran behind him and grabbed his arm. He turned around. "You're evil."

He flashed his pearly white teeth. "Not really," he responded. She smiled.

"I'm not a sage, you weirdo. I don't have super fancy powers."

"You act like one. And you'd deserve to be one. And a sage is not merely one with magic, a sage is someone wise, who speaks for something. You are wise and you speak for your world."

"Not really."

"Yes, really."

"But I don't think so," she said.

"Hey, don't yell at me. Zelda made me think of a title, and I'm not that creative."

Meghan smiled and turned back to Zelda. "Zellie! You're evil too!"

"No, I'm not." Zelda said with a straight face. "I'm malicious." She smiled. "But this is not important."

"We're going to teach you some Hylian traditions now that you're one of us," Link explained, "and one of those traditions is for a birthday."

"What is it?"

"You'll see as we go. It's complicated."

"I'm scared." Zelda turned her around to face the crowd of people before her.

To her surprise, a band started playing. Good music. It was like a medieval rock band. She found the source of the band and checked out their instruments. Two (acoustic) guitars, a piano, a stand-up bass, and percussion (almost a drum set). All they would have needed to turn to rock were amps and electric…

She was happy to see that two of the band members were Zoras. Mayo, playing one of the guitars, and a Zora girl on the drums. It was a stretch, but Meghan was willing to bet that it was Kazana!

"Now it's time to dance and have fun! The first stage in a Hylian birthday party! Note that the dancing is usually fast-paced."

"I hope you like the music. I remember you telling me something about bands with guitars and drums and stuff. Sounded like Zora music," Link said.

"OK, I like it a lot so far."

"Good!" They brought her down and to the dance floor, an area across from where she had entered and diagonal from the dais. It was large and cleared. Nobody was there. They walked through the crowd, Zelda holding Meghan's left hand and Link holding her right, guiding her as though she was blind.

"What's the name of this song?"

"Ode to Meghan," Link said, smiling.

"No, _seriously_."

"I'm serious!"

"Link, no you are not," Zelda interrupted. "Tell her the real name." She said something in Hylian.

"Fine. Soundless Lullaby. Happy?" He smiled.

After the introduction to the song, words came. The singer was female and had a silvery, smooth voice.

"Um…teach me how to dance to this kind of music?"

"Like this!" Saria came running by and bouncing about.

"Um…yeah…" Meghan scratched her head. How about no.

"Don't do that!" Nabooru's voice said, promptly followed by a slap to her hand. Meghan stopped scratching.

"Ow!"

"Nabooru!" Zelda said.

"Hey, Nabooru, if you keep doing that I'm going to scratch her head for her!" Link said, joking.

"No! I worked so hard on that!" Nabooru stormed off.

Malon was walking toward them. "What happened to her?" Malon asked.

"She's mad because Link threatened to mess up my hair."

They all laughed, feeling a bit bad but kind of confused at Nabooru's intense reaction to Link's joke.

"So Meghan," Link started, pulling her arm and twirling her to face him, "Do you like the music?"

"I love it! It reminds me of Evanescence!"

"Great, because there's more." God, was he like party planner extraordinaire underneath those muscles?

Meghan tried to look over the crowd to see who was singing. It didn't sound like the Gerudo singer at all, and she hadn't met any other singers here, so she was quite curious.

"Link, who's singing?"

"A young girl Zelda found. I can't remember her name."

Meghan looked to Zelda to ask her, but Zelda was chatting with a few ladies Meghan didn't know, and a few she had seen before. She didn't want to interrupt.

The song ended, leaving the words "soundless lullabies" echoing in her head. She wandered away from the crowd, determined to find the singer. She slipped away from Link, soon losing her group of friends.

She hoped that the music would start again so she could easily find her way, but just her luck, it didn't.

What's taking so long? She thought to herself. Suddenly, she felt scared, lost in a sea of people she didn't know, there for _her_ but…did they even notice?

Once again we come to the fact that Meghan isn't really good in public.

She heard a voice behind her say, "Look! There's the birthday girl!" Meghan looked up. People had turned to look at her. They all stared. Meghan didn't feel comfortable around this bunch of people. Some looked slightly scared.

"Um, excuse me…" she said quietly, attempting to escape, but she couldn't find anywhere to move out the circle she was being surrounded in.

"It's her!" a wheezy voice said.

"Oh dear deities!" She heard whispering. Little bits stood out, louder than other words.

"…So…beautiful…I wonder…he was there…black on…he took it…Princess Zelda…" Fragments of whispered conversations, but no one was talking to her.

"Um, excuse me…" she walked forward, but no one moved, not really noticing her even though she thought they were talking about her. "Please, can I get through?"

The music had started in the background, but she barely noticed it. Her voice was quiet. She was ignored.

"Hey, Meghan, come with me." A strong hand grasped her arms and she was ready to scream. It pulled her away from the group of strange people as she came to realize who it was. She sighed with relief.

"Thank you Luke."

He didn't let her go, but led her away from people and they stayed inconspicuous.

"What is it?" His expression was serious.

"All right, this is going to sound a bit generic, but Meghan, I need you to always be with someone around here. This place is huge, and there are a lot of people. We didn't restrict anyone from coming. I don't believe anyone would hurt anyone, just…be safe, all right? Stay with Link."

"Yeah…but-"

"And don't think you're the only one who I want to keep an eye on. Everyone…I mean, Zelda, the sages, and others, these rules apply to."

Meghan nodded, a little freaked out now. Luke looked so serious.

"Let's get back."

On their way back to find the others, they came across Link.

"Link!'

He turned and seemed to sigh with relief, but he said jokingly, "Oh good! We thought we lost you."

"Mischievous one you have here, Link."

"I know. I guess I should…watch her more carefully…" He stared at her intently as a joke.

"Stop it!" she giggled.

Link looked up. "Thanks, Luke."

"It's what I do," Luke said with a grin. He walked away.

"Meg! You should have told us you were leaving. I had no idea where you were."

"I guess you panicked, didn't you?"

"Not…really…" He smiled and stepped closer to her, tapping her on the nose with an un-gauntleted finger. He had a familiar look in his eyes. She smiled and blushed, covering her nose with her hands.

She looked to the side, anything to get away from that feeling. The area she was in wasn't so crowded, but still people walked by every once in a while, and they were in clear site.

"Let's go back to the others." She looked back to him. The look was gone.

He nodded and they walked back. She started to notice the music again. Playing right now was a beautiful guitar solo in a minor key, with a bit of percussion in the background. She was sure it was Mayo.

"Darn, he's good!"

"Who is it?"

"Mayo! Remember? Oh…you met him, but you didn't see him playing guitar! I think that's him! And Kazana is playing drums. Yay!"

"Oh! OK." They rejoined the group they were in before, and she was happy.

She saw Darunia for the first time that day.

"Meghan!" he shouted, opening his arms for a hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks…uhh…" She backed away. He put his arms down. "Care to dance?"

"I'd love to!" he said, dancing. And dancing. And dancing.

With that optimistic note, they joined the rest of their group, dancing, laughing, talking and having fun.

Meghan was so worn out, an hour later, and she decided she needed a break and a drink. Everyone had been pressuring her to join their activities, which meant a lot of exercise and action. She stopped dancing suddenly, causing Link to stop. She looked at him, and he looked at her. For the first time that night, she took in what he wore. The usual white pants, shirt, boots, tunic, and sword he had adorned, but the color of the tunic was a silvery color (much like the one on SSBM) and black boots.

They stared at each other, Meghan breathing hard, a bead of sweat rolling down her face. People danced and lived around them, but they didn't notice anything but each other. They took in all of each other's details, relishing every inch of each other's bodies, loving it.

"Hey guys! Come back to Hyrule!" Saria teased, seeing them staring at each other.

Meghan almost blushed. Again. "Um…I really need a break from dancing." She looked at Saria, who was smirking, eyes sparkling. Meghan smiled back and walked to Zelda. "Where can I get something to drink?" she asked Zelda.

"There are waiters walking around, as well as some positioned near the back doorway, and near the tables."

"Thanks, Zelda." She walked up to Link. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course." They told Saria and Zelda they were leaving, then set out.

The tables were on the other side of the room, set up for the dinner later on. The doors to the back exit were closer, so they decided to go there. It would be too hard to find one in the crowd, unless they came across one.

Near the door, there was a waiter standing in a waiter outfit. In his hand, or rather balancing on it, was a tray. When they walked up to him, Meghan asked, "Are you who I'm supposed to ask about drinks?"

"Yes, indeed, Miss Meghan!"

"Oh, ok...what do you have?" She smiled politely.

"Red wine, white wine, pink wine…"

"Oh, do you have anything that's…like…water, or juice?"

"Of course. Water, and any juice you can imagine, including our freshly made every day kamamelon juice, Lon Lon Ranch milk."

"Oo…what about kamamelon juice?"

"Of course."

"No! Meghan…I mean…maybe later…you'll be crazy. Please no."

The waiter raised his eyebrow. "Ah. He knows."

"It's not dangerous…is it?"

"No, it just makes you crazy," Link answered. "But they are extremely good tasting..."

"OK…then…can I have just water, please?"

"Of course. Right away." He walked away, to a door she assumed led to the kitchen. A few seconds later, he returned with a glass of water on his tray. It was frosted with cold. She downed the whole glass in a matter of seconds, to the astonishment of the waiter and Link, and breathed deeply.

"Thank you, where do I put this?"

"I shall take it for you."

"Thank you!"

The waiter walked back to the kitchen.

"Are you tired already? Because we're still only in the first phase of the party…" Link worried.

"No, just need a break." She flashed a thumbs up.

"OK."

"It's sorta hot in here."

"I guess, yeah," he agreed. "Of course, if I was wearing that outfit, I'd be hot too." LOLZ PUN. (I reference this line a lot in real life and my boyfriend is always like, "it's not funny." And I'm like "but it is…because Link doesn't realize what he's saying…;_;")

"Exactly. Can we get some air? Like go in the hall. I'm sure it's better there."

"Yeah." She took his hand and went out the door with him, immediately feeling the cold relief. It cleared her mind as they slowed walked down the dim corridor, and brought her to think about a few things. At that moment, she was glad he couldn't see into her thoughts or anything. She wanted to be able to say something without falter and distraction.

"Hey Link…about before…" She stopped, her voice starting to quiver.

"What? When?"

"Before…when we were in the field…and you…"

"I what? Did I do something?" He turned to her, worry clear on his face. She leaned against the wall, thinking what to say. She was too embarrassed to say it.

"You were going…to…um…sorta…like…you know…I mean…well…"

"OK, what is it? It's OK. Tell me." He moved closer.

"Um…you know…that thing…you did…but got stopped…because I was chicken and stupid and…"

His smile grew as he realized, while she was talking. "Oh! Hey, you mean this?" And at that second, once again his lips united with hers, and she could feel the smile on his. There was a moment when she felt something different on her mouth, something warm and uhhh…worm-like. Just when she was about to freak out, he pulled away, his eyes dancing and gorgeous as ever.

"What about it?" he asked, his face not too far from hers, smiling as she searched his eyes for answers to his question. She couldn't answer his question. She soon forgot she was _supposed_ to be answering a question, and started to stammer, "Uh…um…uh…wh…eh…er…"

"Oh, I get it now," he said, putting his hand on the wall next to her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her face. "You…"

"Um…I…I what?"

"You like it!"

"What? Um, I mean-"

She stopped. She squished up against the wall as far as possible, unconsciously moving her body away from his, even though he still came closer. She finally accepted it, her arms halfway up, staying in midair, confused. She felt his hands lightly on her hips.

* * *

Malon was talking to Saria. They had decided to take a break from the activities, and sat at a table. Both were exhausted.

"I wonder where Meghan and Link went. I saw them go out the door, but I haven't seen them come back."

From where they sat, the lower floor doors were in plain view.

"They probably went outside. Meghan was getting worked to death. You know how Link would feel about that."

"How would he feel?"

Saria looked at her, not smiling but almost mischievous looking. "He would be so upset," she said as darkly as her childlike personality would allow.

"Well of course he'd be upset, wouldn't we all? The poor girl."

"Malon, didn't you realize?"

"Realize what?"

"Well, I guess you didn't see them together as much as I have, but you must have seen them dancing together here. And even you told me, he bought her a horse for her birthday! There's something between them."

"They're best friends, I know that. But I don't really think there's more. It just doesn't seem like it."

Saria didn't feel like explaining too much more, realizing Malon was not seeing it. "I dare you to go find them."

"Why?"

"Just look at them, if they're together. Just look to see if you can find that special thing between them."

"Fine, I will. I daresay, this is news to me." Was it because she didn't see….or because she didn't _want_ to see?

"But you really have to look very close. They don't let people catch on too much." Except today.

"Fine!" Malon giggled and walked away, to the door.

"She'll see, blind ranch woman," Saria joked to herself.

Malon had walked out the door, then turned to the left, determined to find out what the "hay" Saria was seeing. It didn't take her long to find out.

She turned bright red, stiffly turning and going back into the ballroom, hoping to the goddesses she hadn't been seen. She walked back to Saria, thoughts racing through her mind. She only hoped they hadn't seen her, for their sake and hers…

"That quickly? I don't believe you saw them."

"Oh, believe me, I did…" Malon said in a small voice. Saria's face turned into a smile.

"They weren't…"

"Oh yes they were."

Saria's mouth opened wide, and then formed an "oo" mouth. "Ooo! Oo oo oo! Now it can't be denied! We have irrefutable evidence! Come on, Malon, let's go bust them!" Saria stood up and pulled Malon's arm.

"No, Saria! We can't!" Malon was still red, looking embarrassed.

"Why _not_?"

"They just seemed so happy. Can you imagine being in their position, then having people come and do that on them? I can't."

"Was it really…?"

"Look, Saria, I only glanced before I turned away. I don't know anything but that's what they were doing."

"Oh, fine. Can we at least spy?"

"No! Saria, you're not understanding! That's awful! They need to be left alone. "

"Well, at least you know now." Saria nodded, then sat back down. "How romantic!"

"Stop talking about it, Saria!" Malon said shyly as she sat.

"Fine!" she giggled.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally moved away. Meghan hadn't been conscious, she thought, through it, but as soon as he broke contact, she breathed.

"People are going to wonder where you went…" Link said suddenly.

"Oh, yeah…"

"We should go." He tugged at her hand, but she held back. She turned a bright red.

"I…I-I-I can't just yet."

"Why not?"

"…Um…" She wondered if he even knew what he just did. Or they did…or something…. She turned a darker red. "Um…remember…two seconds ago…"

"Oh, stop blushing." He put his hand on her cheek and traced it with his thumb. "You shouldn't be ashamed or anything." He stared at her questioningly.

"I know, but I don't mean to…"

"Forget it. It's completely normal." It was lucky he understood her prudishness. But he did hope she'd grow out of it.

She found it strange that he was comforting her about these strange lovers' rituals. It was like he'd done these things a thousand times before. "Oh, yeah…I guess." She felt strange talking about it.

"What are you thinking about?" he laughed, "You keep turning darker and darker. I'm afraid you'll explode."

"No…no, I'm fine." She sighed and stared down for a few seconds, the color eventually fading. She took a walk to the end of the hall, where there were doors leading to an outside courtyard, familiar to Link. She stood in the doorway for a second, the chilly air cooling her off.

"Better. Come on." She tottered after him, admiring his courage to step into a group of people after something like that.

God, she must have been a terrible kisser…

They rejoined their group. Malon and Saria were still not there.

"Where were you? That was an awful long time to get a drink," Nabooru asked suspiciously.

Meghan turned around, pretending not to hear her.

Link answered. "It was getting hot in here, so we took a walk in the courtyard."

"Oh. That's nice…" It was obvious she had been pointing the question at Meghan.

"Meghan, Link, I just have to tell you, after this song is over, it's time for the supper," Zelda said, appearing from nowhere.

"Yeah? What are we having?" she asked excitedly. She had a feeling she was going to put on the "castle fifteen," like the freshman fifteen.

"Assorted things…I believe you'll like it."

"OK…cool."

"Yes, but you won't be happy with what happens after that," Link said.

"What is it?" she asked loudly.

"…Eh…um…"

"Yes?"

"You'll see," Link said.

Zelda took Meghan's arm, and Link followed close behind. They went to the dais. They waited until the song was over, then everyone quieted a bit.

"Thank you, everyone, for joining us tonight. Please take a seat at your reserved tables. Thank you."

The was a bit of commotion as everyone made their way through the crowd to the dining area, but once most people were seated, it calmed down a bit.

"Where do I sit?"

"Over there." Zelda pointed to a table that was longer than all the other rectangular, smaller tables. There were so many tables, Meghan found it hard to believe there was enough food in the castle to feed that many people. And this room was g_od damn _huge.

"OK…who else sits with us?"

"The Sages, Luke, Link, me, you…Darunia's son, Nabooru's friend, and I believe that's all."

"What about…Dia, and Kazana and Mayo, and…"

"Meghan, we can't fit everyone at the table! Don't worry, they're all sitting close."

"OK…" They walked to their table, making Meghan sit in the direct center. On her left was Zelda, and her right, Link. To Link's right were Saria, Malon, Talon, Nabooru, and Narma. To Zelda's left were Luke, Impa, Darunia, Goron Link, and Ruto.

Meghan spotted a lot of her Hylian friends along the tables near by. Dia sat with whom she thought was her mom, and Devan. Kazana and Mayo sat at another table with a few Gorons, their mother Lima, and who she thought was their father, the Merchant person from Zora's domain. They were talking rapidly, or so it seemed.

Zelda started talking to her. "Meghan, I know you wished for a small celebration of your birthday, but I do hope you are having fun!"

Meghan nodded, smiling. She actually was. "I am," she said, trying to sound convincing.

"Fantastic! That makes me so happy. You see, Meghan, not only is this good for you, it is also a great stimulant for the Hylian economy. Our economy is not so strong right now, obviously, though the citizens did do their best to keep it as stable as possible. This party causes many people to buy things—clothes, jewelry, all those things, and I buy lots of food from the merchants. I also hire waiters, cooks, and others. When all these people are paid, they will in turn buy many things. It's a fantastic cycle, and I do hope it helps."

Wow, Zelda really was a good ruler. So this party wasn't just for her—it was for the whole country! Instead of feeling like her big day was being shared, she actually felt happy that the petty party was doing the country good as well.

She realized she had phased out for a second, and then suddenly realized something as many waiters came out of the kitchen doors with trays of hot something. A waiter came by and served their table. They set a bowl of hot, light soup in front of each of them, and filled their glasses with water. She stared down at it.

"What's this?"

"I don't know," Link replied. Meghan shrugged and picked up her spoon, stuffing the napkin on her lap and dunking the spoon into the liquid. "Careful, it's hot."

"Thank you, Mother."

He reached sideways and poked her on her head. Meghan turned her head slowly, while his finger still touched her.

"Thank you, _Mother_."

He grinned and tried not to laugh. "You're welcome."

"Whatever." Meghan smiled and tried not to laugh as well. She snorted into her soup as she swallowed some. It was very good. Not that she expected it to be bad. "Yummy."

"I'm glad you like it," Zelda replied, taking a sip herself. "But just you wait until the following courses!"

Zelda was right. By the time they were finished eating, everyone was way too full to do anything just yet.

* * *

"Gifts from the communities!" Zelda said jovially a few minutes later.

"Shut up. You're clearly lying."

"No, I swear."

"Please tell them I don't want anything!"

"Sorry, it's traditional, and I couldn't stop them even if I tried to."

She sighed.

Zelda, Luke, and Link all stood up. Link pulled Meghan's chair away from the table so she could stand, but she sat and crossed her arms. He rolled his eyes.

"Please get up." Meghan stuck her tongue out at him and stood. "Great!"

"Follow me, please," Zelda said, walking back to the dais. Meghan hung her head. "Don't be sad. This is happy!"

"OK, OK!" Meghan smiled a huge, completely fake smile.

They brought her to the middle of the stage, and a few people (or creatures) stood before them.

Darunia and Goron Link walked up to them, Darunia carrying a package. Darunia stopped halfway to Meghan, at the base of the stairs, and handed the package to Goron Link, who brought it the rest of the way to Meghan.

"This is a gift from the entire Goron community!"

Link came forward with a medium sized package, handing it to Meghan. She was surprised when he dropped it in her hands. It was so heavy she Link (Hylian) quickly helped her, putting his hands under it to support her.

"Thank you…" Meghan had a feeling she knew what it was. "So much…"

"Open it," Luke whispered. Meghan let him hold it as she carefully opened the package. Her suspicions were confirmed.

"Uh…thank you so much! It's…beautiful!"

"And also delicious! It's a prime-cut sirloin rock!"

"Mm…yummy." Meghan stared at the rock. "Looks great!"

"Glad you think so!" Darunia and Link turned around and went the other way. Ruto and Kazana were coming next. Ruto stopped where Darunia had, giving her package to Kazana, who brought it forward to Meghan. Meghan was glad it wasn't so heavy. In fact, it was extremely light.

"A gift from the Zora Tribe," Ruto said. She gently unwrapped it. Inside was something blue. "A lady sized Zora Tunic, so you can breathe underwater, like Link."

Meghan smiled. "Thank you! A lot! It's so nice! And very useful! Thanks." She gave Kazana a hug.

Kazana smiled and turned around. Next Meghan saw Saria, by herself. Of course, there were no other Kokiri who could come out of the forest.

"A gift from the Kokiri." Saria said, handing a large package to Meghan. It wasn't that heavy, though Link held it as she opened it. She pulled out a beautiful plant in a ceramic pot, with the reddest flower in full bloom in the direct center. "It will never die. It will always bloom in the same place. It closes at night, but the same flower will live as long as you allow it."

"Wow…" The petals were perfectly placed, and the leaves full and lusciously green. "Thank you so much, Saria! I'll always take care of it!"

"I hope you do. The Kokiri wanted to tell you happy birthday too."

"Aw, thank you, Kokiri…"

Saria grinned at her for a second before turning. Nabooru came next with Narma. Narma brought forward a small package that was very light. Meghan had a feeling she could guess what it was too. And where it came from.

She opened it, and took out a beautiful, and rather large stone. It was black and perfectly cut. She looked at it skeptically.

"I know what you're thinking, Meghan. But it's not the case. That stone came directly from the Goddess of the Sand statue in the Spirit Temple. We didn't steal it."

"Thank you…it's very beautiful."

Impa came next, by herself. "From the Sheikah. Me, in other words."

Meghan smiled. "Thank you." She gingerly took the package, a light square-ish gift.

She unwrapped it, and uncovered a book. The title was in Hylian, but a translation was below.

"_In the Shadows_…"Meghan whispered. "Thank you Impa. It looks great!"

"It's a novel about the Sheikah, by my great-grandmother. Perhaps it will help you in the future."

"I'm sure it will! And nice and long, too. I look forward to reading it. Thank you."

Impa smiled and went to stand next to the others. Meghan was relieved when she thought that was it, but then was disappointed. She saw Dia and Devan.

"Meghan, it's for you." Dia held out a package, slightly messily wrapped, but sweet all the while.

"Thank you, Dia!" Meghan said, kneeling down to her level. Dia smiled as she unwrapped it gently. Inside was a green ball, very similar to the one they'd been playing with yesterday.

"We thought you might want to play with Link sometimes if you were bored," Devan said.

"Thank you so much, Dia! It's beautiful! And you too, Devan! Come here." She squeezed both of them in a hug. She held the ball close, unsure of what to do next. She inched back next to Link, about to ask what was next.

Then Zelda started to speak. "Thank you everyone. Now, if you will kindly move to other parts of the ballroom so the waiters can fix the tables, we would be most thankful."

A mass of people started moving to the other side of the room.

"All right, Meghan. Next part."

"What's that?"

"Dancing again," Link said.

"But we were dancing for like an hour before!"

"This is a different kind of dancing."

"Uh…"

"Well this part is slow dancing."

"…Oh." She thought for a second. "OK."

"Cool. Let's go." Link held out his hand, and Meghan took it as they walked down to the dance floor area.

String instruments started to play nice dancey music. Meghan and Link smiled as Link asked the question while laughing, "Do you want to dance?"

"Oh, please. Do you have to ask?" She laughed.

"Sorry, standard procedure," he said with a smile.

"Right."

"Just do what everyone else is doing," he said coyly, looking around.

"What are they doing?"

"Apparently, the dance that you are supposed to do."

"How does it go?" she asked.

He laughed. "You're asking _me_ that?"

"Ye-no." Meghan said.

"I was stuck in the Sacred Realm for seven years. I definitely don't know the latest dances."

"Well, you just know like _everything_ else so I just assumed you'd know!"

"Not enough time to learn to dance," he joked.

"But I understand. Let's copy those people."

Meghan glanced at the other people. She wasn't sure she wanted to do that specific dance. It looked kinda intricate too, with stepping one way then another.

She noticed Zelda not too far away, and actually, Zelda didn't exactly seem to know what she was doing either. She even looked a bit awkward, which was bizarre, since she was always so graceful. Luke, however, was guiding her along, and there was a huge smile on her face. _Aw, they're cute together._

"Ugh…let's do something completely different. Our own way."

"All right."

"Like…" She took his hands and positioned them on herself. "And…" She put her hands on him. "There."

"Interesting…"

"From my world."

"Great!" So they twirled around a few times, with Link's arms around her waist and her arms around his neck. She just led him in different ways, randomly spinning and stepping around.

"That's that." The song ended. The next song started in a few seconds. It was much slower and more…slow dance-y.

"Hmm…nice song."

"Yeah…let's dance more."

"Cool." So they once again took their positions and Link slowly danced with Meghan. She sighed, closing her eyes and letting him lead her. What a moment.

She was getting worn out, and maybe sleepy from being so full of yummy food, that she leaned on him, closing her eyes. He held her close, his arms around her back now.

During the song, and because there were fewer people dancing (just people who had partners) they had somehow gotten closer to where the instruments were. Meghan lifted herself from her position leaning on Link's shoulder, her eyes drooping.

"Are you sleeping?" Link asked jokingly, watching as she blinked, their faces close.

"No. But look at the instruments! They're so shiny…" She stared at the instruments strangely similar to violins, violas, cellos, and possible basses, but they were slightly differently shaped, thinner. Oh, yeah, and the piano was still there, since they didn't move it from before. "They have a piano."

"Yeah."

A final cadence sounded in the song, and they knew it was about to end.

"Do you want to play it?"

"I'd love to, but I can't. There are people here."

"Well then you can show them how you play!" He was so curious. He'd never even heard her. It was strange to think she still had this hidden talent.

"But I haven't played in more than a month. I'll mess up for sure. And I don't know what to play."

A violinist (or whatever it was in Hyrule) must have heard their conversation, because he stood up and asked Meghan, "Miss Meghan, would you care to grace us with a song?"

"Um…"

"Go ahead! No one minds," Link said.

"…Um…I guess…"

"Yes?" asked the violinist.

"Yeah..." she responded nervously, wondering what she'd even play. Was she supposed to play a classical piece? Something contemporary?

"Please, help yourself."

Meghan hesitantly walked over to the piano, pulling out the bench and positioning herself. She put her fingers in position, remembering the feel. The piano was almost exactly the same; it just seemed to have a few less keys than the standard eighty-eight keys, starting and ending on the same note.

"Um…" She took a deep breath, then slowly started to play a song she had composed.

Link stood in shock as he listened to her voice, but was more captivated by her playing. Even the simple piano part was beautiful. He felt proud of her. It was his girl—_his girl_, now—playing that. It seemed familiar, and again he was hit with confusion—did he know this piece? But soon he realized he did. This was what she'd sang for him.

_Sing me to sleep_

_In that gently way_

_In my mind, in my soul_

_Put me to sleep _

Link was thinking how lucky he was. How could he never have known? Her voice was a bit shaky, he had to admit, but he blamed that on her nerves. Somewhere else, Zelda listened carefully.

A piano instrumental started, showing off more playing. The string instrument players recognized the chord progression, so slowly, they incorporated their own thing into the song, enhancing it with crying string parts. Meghan beamed as the song took on more life, really getting into it. There was excitement in her core.

Oh goddesses…_music_.

The song ended on a single note, a perfect end to the song. Link swore he was about to cry. Meghan got up, and to her surprise, a lot of people clapped. Like, _clapped_. Whoa.

"Meghan, who knew you could play so lovely?" Zelda said as she greeted her, coming off the little platform.

"I messed up!" she whined, a disappointed expression on her face. They all looked at her strangely.

"We didn't hear any mistakes. It was perfect," Link comforted. Because they really hadn't.

"I did _too_ mess up, and nothing is perfect."

"Relax, little whiner, it's fine. You have a two personalities! One second you'll be so calm and the next you're hyper and nervous. What am I supposed to do with you?"

"Call me by another name, give me amnesia, and cast me to the Gerudos," she joked.

He laughed heartily. "Let's just stick with the giving another name part. How about 'Musical?' Or 'Melody?' Or 'Medley?'"

"Eh…how about _no_..."

"Or Megs, because you have two personalities." What a perfect opportunity. He always called her that in her head, but never said it out loud in fear of offending her. He wasn't sure if she'd like it.

She smiled. "I like it! Done."

He laughed again. Another song started.

"OK…dance I guess…" So once again, they started another boring dance, for that was what was expected of them. Meghan and Link were just dancing along, probably talking too loudly, until someone came and interrupted them.

"Ahem…excuse me, Link, may I cut in?" Meghan looked at who was tapping Link on the shoulder, recognizing Luke.

_Please no, don't let him, Link!_ She liked Luke and everything, of course, but she thought it'd be pretty strange to dance with him...

"All right," Link replied, hesitantly letting go. "If she doesn't mind, of course."

"No…not at all." Liiiiiaaaaarrrrrrr.

"I'll just go pick on Zelda now." Link sulked off to find the princess, who wasn't very far away. Both stared jealously at their partners, then turned to each other, smiling.

"Well, would you like to dance, Princess?" he held his hand out and bowed slightly. "And after that you can marry me. And then-"

"Link, you're crazy."

"I know. I am."

Zelda rolled her eyes. Link just looked blankly at her, holding his arm out for her to take and begin dancing.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, Meghan and Luke danced.

"Um…" she started, the silence kinda being killer awkward. "Um…so…how are you on this...fine...day..."

"Well, I'm doing great, thank you. I enjoyed your song quite a bit. Imaginative. It painted a beautiful picture in my mind…" he rambled.

"Thank you. Thanks for liking my song."

He spun her around. "No, thank you for the wonderful treat!"

"Yeah…"

"You broke the pattern," he said exasperatedly, mock angrily. "You were supposed to say _thank you_. Like we did the last few sentences." He smiled his boyish grin, and she laughed. Actually, it was quite easy to talk to Luke, but she felt rather self conscious dancing so closely to him.

The conversation grew easier and they chitchatted for the rest of the dance, until their partners came running back to them, unable to stand Luke and Meghan's joyful chatter any longer. Link made a memorable appearance, nearly slipping on something, but staying standing and stuff.

"Good job," Meghan praised as he smiled.

"It's what I do."

* * *

"Hey, Link! This Kamamelon juice stuff is pretty good!"

"I know, isn't it?"

"Yeah!"

"Hey, let's go have some more!"

"Yeah!"

"It's so delicious!"

"I just said that!"

"I'll race you!"

"I'm gonna win!"

"We'll see!"

"You are not racing anywhere." Nabooru had grabbed her by her necklace, choking her. She stopped short, just stopping herself from letting out dirty curse words at Nabooru.

"Sorry Link, Nabooru says I can't race!"

"Nabooru! We wanna race!"

"_Tough_."

"Nabooru!" Link whined. "Please?"

"No!"

"Fine then!" They walked quickly to the nearest waiter, who had it on his tray because it was, in fact, kamamelon juice hour. Meghan drank some, then nearly dropped the glass, then ran around in circles.

"Weeeee!"

"Meghan! You will ruin that gown!"

"Sorry, Nabooru!" Meghan slowed down then stopped. "So strict…"

"That's OK! We'll just…do something else!" Link said.

"YAY!" Meghan ran over and hugged Link, almost making him drop his glass. He smiled contentedly, his nose touching her hair.

* * *

Meghan sighed. A lot of people had left. They had moved from the ballroom to separate sitting rooms. Meghan and Link were with Saria, Dia and her family, Kazana and Malon. She had no idea where everyone else was. A quick glance around the room found her a clock, and it was 12:30. She yawned and leaned against Link on the couch she was sitting on. Everyone was talking except for her, she was just too tired. She couldn't wait until she could take the dress off and get into some comfortable clothes.

Actually, she was starting to like the dress. She liked its design and the way it flowed about her, but it was entirely annoying in its length and weight.

"Oh, yes. Of course. I always thought that…"

"But do you really…

"Blab blah blah…"

"Blah…"

Meghan didn't really pay attention to anything. She just drooped.

Saria sat on a chair by herself next to them, and Dia, her mom, and Devan were across from them on another couch. Kazana sat on a chair by herself, and Malon on another. There was one empty chair in the sitting room.

She noticed Dia, barely awake. Her eyes drooped and she laid her head in her mother's lap. Devan sat up straight, but she could tell that he too was struggling to stay awake.

She thought that it made sense—Dia was the youngest, then Devan, then herself, even though it was her birthday. Even Saria was probably older, just younger _looking_. So no wonder she was tired.

She barely realized that her eyes were closed, then the door opened and she opened her eyes as well.

Zelda and Luke walked into the room. Zelda was smiling and came to sit next to Meghan. Luke sat in the empty chair.

"Hello," Zelda said.

Meghan squeezed her eyes to stay awake, then muttered, "Hey, Zelda."

"So how is everyone?" Luke asked joyfully.

"You two are definitely on some kamamelon juice," Saria said with glee.

"Oh, yes," Zelda replied. "But do not worry, darling! It does not impair my judgment."

"Great," Meghan said. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Meghan, you know it helps you stay awake! You should get some more!"

"No, no…I'd rather be sleepy than artificially awake…and then crash later…actually I'm crashing now."

"All right…"

"So what have you guys been doing?"

"Seeing a few people out. But we're back now. Does anyone mind our presence?"

"Not at all," Link said. Everyone agreed. (Everyone awake.) Meghan noticed the rising on falling of Devan and Dia's chests as they leaned against their mother.

"They're so adorable," Meghan told her.

"Yes. Quite a handful," their mother agreed. She smiled warmly. Their mother was beautiful. But then she was in a room _full_ of beautiful girls. Excluding herself. lol

Meghan smiled. "I should follow their example and go to sleep."

"Meghan, do you want to go?" Link questioned. "I'll see you back."

"No, no, I'm fine."

"Hmm…just to make sure…you are all staying here in the castle tonight, right?" Zelda asked.

"I won't," Kazana said. "Unless I sleep in a bathtub," she joked. They all laughed.

"Except for me," Luke said.

"I wasn't talking about you, silly," Zelda played.

"Well, excuuuuse me, princess."

"Yes, I'm staying," said Saria. "It's quite late and I'm tired."

"Me as well," Malon said. "Sepira's probably sleeping anyway, and I don't want to walk. My feet ache!"

"Yes, we would love to if it's still all right…they're asleep…and they'd just love it if they could stay in a castle for a night…" the mother of the two said.

"You are always welcome here, Sheftali," said Zelda.

"Thank you, Zelda." She stroked Dia's hair. Meghan wondered where their father was. She hadn't seen him anywhere today, but she knew she wasn't a single mother from yesterday when she had called her kids home.

With those thoughts, she closed her eyes and phased out. She could feel Link talking through the buzz of his voice in his chest, even though she didn't pay attention to exactly what he said. Weird, dreamlike thoughts passed over her, her head buzzing.

She was on the brink of sleep, when someone touched her. Her eyes shot open. Saria was standing and smiled at her.

"All right, party girl, time for bed! Come with us, then you can sleep."

"Sure…sure…" She felt like she couldn't move, though. Link pushed her up, and she stood with her eyes drooping. She looked at the clock. It said 1:32. She walked to the door, noticing that only she, Malon, Link, and Saria were left.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Luke and Kazana went home, and Zelda showed Sheftali and her children to their room."

"K." They walked sleepily to Meghan's room. She opened it and immediately went to sit on the couch. Malon sat there too, and then told Meghan to sit so she could take her hair out of its style. Link sat on a chair, talking to Saria.

Meghan closed her eyes as Malon pulled out pins and such.

"Thank you, Malon."

Then they went into her room, closing the door, and helped Meghan out of her gown, hanging it carefully in the dress section of her ever growing wardrobe. She threw on a pair of pants and a tank top.

"Well, I guess we should get back to our rooms," Saria said as they left Meghan's bedroom. Malon nodded. They walked to the door.

"Good night, Meghan. And even though technically it's not your birthday anymore, happy birthday."

"Yeah, happy birthday-night thing," Saria agreed. "We're leaving now. Coming, Link?" she asked, seemingly innocently, but Malon realized her jesting tone.

Shit, she didn't want him to leave just yet. At the very least not without a moment alone with him to say goodnight.

"I'll just be a second more. Good night," said the almighty Link.

"Oh, all right," Saria said in a smirking tone. "Night, then."

They left the room. Meghan faced Link.

"I guess I should go, too," he said, a very gentle smile on his face. She still had the makeup on her face, but now her hair flowed about and she wore casual clothes, her bare feet poking out beneath her pants.

"Where are you going?" she asked tiredly, refraining from rubbing her eyes.

"I need to go home to sleep, too!" He was still smiling. "I'm tired."

"I know, but…all the way over there? You're going to fall asleep at the wheel and crash your horse. You can stay in the castle, too! Everyone else did."

"I never asked for a room to stay in," he said. "I don't know where Zelda went."

"This is my house! You can live here," she decreed with a flourish, pointing down into the floor emphatically. She smiled. "For tonight, if you want." Oops, she hadn't meant to say "live."

"Are you sure?"

"Why would I not be sure?"

"I don't know. I can go home, it's fine." But he said this statement weakly.

"Just stay. Whatever. I'm going to get dressed. You take that horribly heavy thing off." She pointed to his sword. "And sleep, like everyone else."

"All right…" He sat on the couch and took it off, and Meghan went to her room to change her clothes.

She found a pair of Bermuda-shorts-length white shorts and a white shirt in her closet that matched. She still wondered how Zelda got her these clothes…but still, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open even as she stood. She opened her door when she was finished, and…wow. She nearly stood there gaping, now wide eyed, at what she saw.

_Holy crap._

_Holy crap._

_He's goddamn hot._

Something inside her stirred, and now she felt more awake. There were butterflies inside her. This was a first. A nice, _hott_ first. He was standing there, setting something down next to his things on the coffee table, with _no shirt on_.Her breaths came out in slow stutters. All of these reactions happened in just a second, and she tried to pull herself together before it got too weird.

He had gorgeously toned muscles…beautiful abs…his arms…it was perfection. She really felt like she couldn't breathe.

_This is…mine?_

"Um…" She was shocked, and needless to say, at a loss for words. She forced herself to look up to his face. _What a…bold thing to do…_

"Yeah?" he asked as he fell back, sitting on the couch. Trying hard to keep the smirk from his face. The kid was far from conceited, but he himself had to admit he'd been handed a godlike body during his sleep in the Sacred Realm. He took in her clothes, too, having something of a similar reaction. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen so much of her legs exposed, and they seemed smooth and long in the low light. He just wanted to feel them...

"Um…you...sleeping...there...?" She pointed to the couch he was standing next to.

"Yeah, why? Isn't that what you meant? I could sleep on the floor, if that's what you wanted…"

He grinned, far too beautifully, standing (and working those luscious muscles in the process). She thought she might fall over. _What's going on? How can he just be so beautiful? This is crazy. No, I do not want you to sleep on the floor. Or the couch. But…I can't just tell him that. And I might die. If he. Came in there…_

She opened her mouth, but just shook her head. She turned and went back to her bed, pulling off excess blankets and blankets and pillows. She brought him a pillow, a sheet to put beneath him, and a blanket for on top. She leaned down and tucked the sheet around the cushions, her face far too near to his body. She turned stiffly, going back to her room, her mouth open wide, and sat down on her own bed, not closing the door.

She saw Link from where she was in her bedroom. He sat with his hands behind his head, leaning against the back of the couch with a smirk on his face. Oh, god, the way his muscles flexed…she was _not_ worthy!

"What are you looking at?" she asked, pulling a sheet up to her chest subconsciously to hide herself.

"Nothing," he replied snidely. "Just making sure you don't get into any trouble."

"So you're going to watch me the whole night?"

"Yeah." Still, that smile. It just couldn't leave his face.

"Won't that be hard?"

"Maybe…"

"OK, well, goodnight." She blew out her candles, pulled the blanket up and went under it, lying on her side. It was fairly dark now, in the room. She could feel him staring at her, as though his gaze went right through her. He put out his candles too. She closed her eyes right away, feeling tiredness sweep over her, despite everything.

She heard a sound, then a voice. "Maybe I can watch you better from here, though," he said, and she realized he was right next to her bed. Her eyes snapped open, and she could barely see him, sitting on the ground at the edge of the bed she was facing.

"_I told you, I don't want you sleeping on the floor. Please," _she whispered.

"Oh. Well, then I guess..." She felt him slide onto the bed, foreign warmth radiating to her body underneath the covers. She giggled, her heart beating wildly and he put his face near her ear. "Better?"

Oh god, he was so close. "Oh, of course."

"_Oh_, OK then. The princess is happy. Goodnight, sleepy." He kissed her cheek softly.

"Good night," she said, her insides exploding with the cuteness of it.

They lay a bit apart, but took each other's hands. She couldn't find boldness like his to get any closer to him.

She was asleep soon, in a comfortable position. He heard her deep breaths, and snuggled closer to her. She changed position and curled up so her back fit right up against his chest. He put his arm over her side, keeping her safe and close, and then took a deep breath.

"Good night, my love…"


	30. Remix: Why?

"_Wake, hero_..."

Link's eyes flew open suddenly. Even through his grogginess, he felt like something was wrong. He thought he heard something…but he was half awake then…was it real, or a dream?

Suddenly, he moved his arm and grabbed something from midair. He held a wrist, attached to a hand, which held a gleaming blade. He sat up and threw the person to the side as far as he could.

He stood up quickly, surrounded by three other people, each with a weapon. One ran forward to him. He grabbed the arm with which the person held a short sword and twisted it behind his back. He yawned, and then kicked the attacker to the ground. Another person was right next to him and Link punched him in the stomach. He quickly turned around, hoping he hadn't wakened Meghan. She was still fast asleep.

"_Who are you_?" he whispered. A third person attacked him as the first started to get up. Link kicked him in the face, sending him to the floor. Link was sure he had knocked him out. The first person that had attempted to attack them in their sleep slashed at him with his knife. Link dodged it, doing a spinning jump kick (lolz, indulge me), which slammed the man against the wall, next to the door to the balcony.

Link sighed tiredly, dragging them all out, one by one, onto the balcony. With all his strength from his short sleep, he dumped them over the two-story railing onto the grass below. It was dark, so he couldn't see where or how they landed, but he was honestly too tired to find out. He slunk back into the room, locking the balcony doors behind himself, and then out to the main room to make sure the door was closed. It was closed and locked. Then he went back to the bedroom, with Meghan still sleeping, and closed and locked all the doors in the room.

He walked back over to the bed, positioning himself as he had been before. He put his arm around her protectively.

She flinched, but then realized it was he.

"_Now_ you wake up…" He wondered why she hadn't wakened before with all that noise.

"What happened?" she asked frantically.

"Nothing, I just heard something and got up to see what it was." He decided he would tell her what happened, but didn't want to worry her at that exact moment.

"OK…"

Because she hadn't really been awake at all, she fell asleep in a few seconds. Link, however, took much, much longer because he was so concerned.

_Who were those people? Why did they want to attack us? What if they come back, and this time I don't wake? I closed all the doors, but they found a way to get in the front door, so they may find a way to get in again, if they're really desperate. _

Sleep won the final battle.

* * *

_Look at it…so sharp…it's right there, and all I have to do is pick it up. Quick enough. No one will even notice…no one cares enough anymore…_

_She pulled the knife from the kitchen drawer and fearlessly wiped her finger along the blade. It was painful, but nothing, nothing was ever as painful as what had happened..._

_She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and hid it in the sink, turning the water on while pretending to wash her hands._

_"What are you up to?" her mom asked conversationally, watching her hands rub methodically. She was worried about her daughter. She hadn't been acting normal lately, one bit._

_She turned around and glared at her._

_The mom's expression turned. "Please tell me!" she begged. "I know something's wrong, isn't there?"_

_"Oh my goddesses, nothing is wrong! You wouldn't even listen to me if I told you."_

_"Of course I would!" the mom said as the girl turned the water off and ran up the stairs. The mother looked on in distress. She had carried a knife with her…she had been acting very strange lately. Nothing had ever baffled her so much. She was scared for her daughter. She ran up the stairs after her…_

_Safe in her room, the girl lay on her bed and stared at the knife. Soon knocking sounded on the door._

_"Please open the door for me!" Frantic._

_She was ignored as the girl thought for a second, then cut herself on the face in the exact same spot the illusion had made a cut, and one on her arm where the illusion had made another cut. Anything to hold onto the memories…_

_Satisfied, she threw the knife across the room and waited for her mother to battle her way into the room._

_"Dear mother, I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to talk to me. Just leave me."_

* * *

"Shina, this is just…the last and…this is just _it_!" Link heard Zelda yell. Wow, he had never heard Zelda yell so loud before, her voice squealing up into something like a scream. And in Hylian…

He didn't hear much, but he assumed the sound was coming from outside. He grabbed his shirt from the coffee table and pulled it on, running out to the balcony and seeing what was going on.

"Shina, no excuses! I want to know _exactly_ why I found you here this morning, armed, with a bunch of your lackeys! I know it was nothing good. What's worse is you're right below Meghan's window!"

"Zelda!" Link shouted from where he was. "I'll be right there to explain."

"Link?" Zelda said to herself, surprised to see him there. She took a step back to see him better. "You know?" she called.

"Long story! I will be right there."

"Where's Meghan?"

"Sleeping still."

"She's all right?"

"Yes! She's fine." Link ran inside, locking the doors, pulling on his boots.

"Link, where are you going?" she asked groggily, faintly hearing voices that sounded like they were coming from the balcony door. She sat up, looking quite mussed.

"I'll be right back. I promise it'll only take a few minutes." He was totally dressed again (slightly disappointing).

"OK…" He was gone. Meghan stretched. Link seemed to be in a hurry. And she could remember something happened last night. Why did he have to leave?

Meghan hurried to her closet and pulled on the first clothes she could find. Beige pants and a white top.

She pulled on her hair and didn't bother to comb it, only finger-combed as she ran outside to find Link. She realized she had no idea where he went.

She wandered around the halls for a bit, then sighed.

"Stupid. I should have asked where he was going." She went back to her room.

She went on her balcony just because she found the curtains opened, and was extremely lucky. "So that's where you went."

Link was talking to Zelda. She couldn't hear what he said, but there were some dudes down there, sitting or laying on the ground, plus Luke and multiple other guards. Zelda would nod every couple of seconds.

Meghan thought that if she hurried, she could make it down there before Link was finished. She ran as fast as she could out to the gardens below her window.

When she spotted Link, she ran over to everyone, extremely confused about what was going on.

"Meghan…" Zelda said, tearful eyes watching her.

"What? Did something…?"

"It's nothing to worry about, kid," Luke said, a smile on his face, but Meghan could tell it was forced.

"Why are these guys here? Oh my god…is…" Meghan stared at the person only about ten feet away, surrounded by guards so, obviously, he wouldn't escape.

"Shina…" Zelda said in a shaky voice. "You have not heard the last of this. I promise you that your life, however long it will be, will not be very pleasant from now on…"

"Zelda…calm down. It's over. We'll have this finished," Luke said, comforting her. Whatever had happened, Zelda was extremely upset, and Meghan extremely confused. She knew something to do with Shina doing something wrong, but what?

"What happened?" Meghan asked quietly. Link gave her a strange look, one that looked confused as well, and yet seeming that he wanted to tell.

"Meghan, promise that you won't get upset if I tell you. I don't want you to worry."

"What is it? I promise I won't." Meghan stared at him with pleading eyes. If it were something she would worry about, then she would only worry more if she didn't know what it was.

"Meghan…last night…I…he…"

"Link, do you want me to say it? You seem a bit uneasy telling her," Luke asked in Hylian. Link didn't turn to address him, just shook his head as Meghan wondered what had been said.

Link took a deep breath. "Shina and his people…they came into the castle…into…" Link sighed and gave up.

"I don't want her to worry," he said in Hylian, still looking at Meghan as though talking to her. She tilted her head to the side, obviously not understanding.

"Link, we have to. She only worries more," Zelda responded.

"Link?" Luke asked, instead of restating his question before.

"Please…could you…" He closed his eyes for a second.

"Meghan, what Link was trying to say was that there was an attempted attack last night. We managed to get that much out of these guys, but they wouldn't mention who was targeted. But when Link came down and told us the story, we were sure. Meghan, the attack…it was supposed to be you."

"Me? Oh…that's lovely…" Meghan was shocked. Link looked extremely distraught. Zelda looked like she was trying to hold back tears.

"Yeah, good thing, uh…good thing Link _forgot_ something in your room and had to go back…" Luke said, on the edges of a joke but knowing it was not an appropriate moment. Link and Meghan stared each other in the eyes to keep from blushing.

"They're still here. Nothing can destroy them. The pain…it was all for nothing..." Zelda whispered dramatically.

Luke turned to her, perhaps the only coherent person in their bunch. "Zelda, don't think that way. We'll have these idiots in confinement and they won't harm anyone else for the rest of their lives." He had responded in English.

"But there could be others, Luke!" she cried in Hylian again.

"We'll just make sure security is higher. I'm going to investigate. I'll get this under control." He had ideas though…

Years ago, he'd been lucky enough to, more or less, get an exact number on how many there were, how many of Ganondorf's followers there had been. Since then, most had been found out. There were still four left, before today, though, plus Shina. Now, he had three and Shina.

There was one more, and he knew it. Luke's mind raced. Tonight. He had to find the man _tonight_, before anything happened. But it was so difficult…he had no idea who he was looking for.

"But Luke! If they got in…they got in _her_ room which was specially guarded by my magic…they snuck in without notice until the last second…one more second, they could have been dead."

"But Zelda, they're not! Come on, give Link more credit."

"What if he hadn't been there? Why are they even targeting her?"

As Luke and Zelda argued in Hylian, Link stayed strangely quiet. His eyes were blank and lifeless…the same words flowing through his mind a thousand times over…a familiar, young voice chiding him.

"_What she needs is someone to protect her."_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

"Link, are you OK?" Meghan asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Meghan…" he said, his face falling.

"Link, please tell me, you know exactly what happened, right? Why did they stop?"

"You were sleeping. I heard something, and they were there. So close…"

"But you didn't tell me! I woke up! You just said that you heard something and that's why you got up! Why didn't you _tell_ me?" Then she put her hand over her mouth, realizing she'd just shouted to about ten people that Link had been sleeping in her room last night…she felt red hot in her cheeks, her heart doing some strange flip. Oh shit.

"I didn't want you to worry! I'm sorry…I know I should have…but…I didn't want you…I just thought you would be better off not knowing until later. I really didn't know either. I guess I was too tired."

"Link, you didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No, I'm fine, I promise. They didn't even touch me."

"Link…" She leaned over and hugged him; the strange feeling like she could cry came over her. She hugged him as tight as possible. "Thank you, Link. Thank you…what would I do without you?"

Meghan laughed as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, partly from confusion, partly from anger, partly from being scared, but mostly for love.

_What would __you__ do?_

* * *

Back in Meghan's room, they were unsure of what to say. Link made the first move.

They were sitting on the couch with Meghan leaning back on Link and his arms around her stomach. "Megs. I have to tell you something."

"It sounds like more bad news."

"…It's not terrible but I suppose I should just get it over with now, so later I don't have to worry. Well, really two things. I had a dream last night…"

"That girl."

"What?"

"I just remembered I had a dream about someone. But sorry, go on."

"I had a dream about a girl too. It was in a strange place…with all sorts of weird things I've never seen before. But she was…very sad and something. I can't remember what her face looked like, though. I just remember her voice, because it sounded like yours."

"She was in my kitchen…she was with my knife…she went to my room…"

"What do you mean? Your room? Was that where it was?"

"We had the same dream. I think. Did her mom come?"

"Yeah. She was…hurting herself."

"It was my room, back home. Did you see it? That's what it looked like. And my kitchen. And that same knife. Funny, I remember everything…even how our knives looked…"

"But then…"

"That mom. That's my mom." She felt like she could cry. This was one chance he'd had to see her mom, and it was ruined because of that damn dream.

"And that means…"

"Why would I be back home, and try to hurt myself? Why did we have the same dream?"

"I don't think it…" he faded away. "But wait…unless you did that in the past, why would you do it in the future? You're not there anymore."

"Unless…" Meghan's stomach flipped, her eyes growing wide. There was _no_ way she would go back. The _goddesses_ _themselves_ fucking said she wouldn't. _**No**_.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just a dream…" he said quickly, trying not to get her worried.

"Then…if it was really a plain dream, then why did we have the same dream?"

"Coincidence…?" But really, why else? If it wasn't…

"Link…"

"What?"

"Don't do that. I know you're lying."

"But I can't tell you the truth," he said quietly.

"It's OK. I don't care…"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, hearing random sounds, but nothing much. The slam of a door, birds singing, and water flowing if they listened carefully, but silence.

"There was something else you were going to tell me," she reminded.

"…Oh…that…"

"What was it?"

"It's about…oh no, I completely forgot for a while…but…" he couldn't seem to get the right words out.

"What is it?"

"It has to do with that journal. The first few pages said something." He paused for a while.

"What did they say? In the journal?"

"A girl named Sierace—"

"Sierace! That's the person who wrote the notes. To Impa. But what do they have to do with that journal? What does it have to do with you?"

"That girl, Sierace, was a descendent of…a family of knights. Her whole family was killed. She was imprisoned in the castle because she was accused of being a traitor along with her family, and apparently it was Ganon that came to that conclusion. That damn bastard…probably just made up those things to get rid of people who would challenge him. Her family was accused of helping the other side in the Great War. It makes no sense, because they arrested her _later_. I don't get why. She was only a kid."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Meghan, Sierace must have known my family."

"Well, I'm not completely certain…but…"

He was quiet for a second, then Meghan said, "Well, did she say your last name?"

"No."

"Then how do you know it was you? Just curious."

"I feel it's highly unlikely there's anyone else whose mother went to the forest as to seek refuge from the war. And she never returned. And her son was named Link."

"Oh."

"It said, 'Link's dad made her run to the forest with him. I haven't ever seen them again.' And she was sad for that."

"So how does she know you and stuff?"

"She didn't say…that's all I know. But she's older than me, it seems. She knew me as a baby. So she might know something about them. Hopefully she would remember _something_."

"So what are you going to do?" She felt happy again, hoping that he might find some things out about himself. Truly, the boy had no identity other than the Hero of Time. Savior of the people. He was a masked hero.

"I need to talk to her."

"Where is she?"

"That's what I don't know."

"Well, how are we going to find her? Does she live around here? In Kakariko?"

"Where does she live then?"

"Somewhere pretty far. I don't know, Meghan," he said, and Meghan swore it was slightly annoyed so she stayed quiet. After a few seconds, he said, "I'll ask Zelda."

"Wait! Why don't we ask the super awesome spy!"

"What?"

"Luke!" she turned around on the couch, excited. "Secret intelligence agent!"

"Oh yeah, I guess."

"It's worth asking him! I bet he could find her!"

"You're right." He didn't want to trouble Luke, now, though.

"Cool! Is that all?" she asked.

"All of what?"

"You wanted to say. All the depressing crap?"

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

"Good, because today is April 30th, 2007 where I live. And we're wearing the same color pants."

He laughed. "No matter what, I can always depend on you to make it all better."

"Better believe it!" She looked into his eyes, smiling, and lightly kissed him on the nose. He was so happy then. _That was the first time she took the initiative to kiss _him.

LATER…

Link and Meghan stopped by Luke's office. They knocked at the door.

"Come in," said an occupied voice. Link opened the door and they stepped inside, seeing Luke leaning on his hand on his desk, writing something, papers and things spread all around the desk. "Can I help you? Oh, just you two! Hi!" He smiled widely.

"Luke, we need your help. If you can!" Meghan said.

"What is it?"

"I need to find someone."

"Link…I'm not…really in charge of that information anymore." He half smiled, looking off into the distance. Zelda had just promoted him.

"You have to be able to help. It's important," Meghan said.

Luke sighed. "All right, but only for you," he said with fake exasperation. Like he would care! It was just that he was trying to find someone else now. "What do you need me to find?"

"Her name is Sierace."

"Oh, Sierace, huh? Well, I might actually know a bit of info about her."

"Really?" Meghan asked.

"Some things Zelda told me recently, combined with old information my father passed to me." Luke stood up and sat on his desk so he was more at level with them.

"You obviously don't have it _all_," Meghan said. "All the info."

"What?" he asked out of confusion.

"She means we found some things that belong to Sierace in her room. We could show you, if it'd be useful."

"Oh, that would be great. For now, you need to know her location?"

"Yeah."

"OK. This is complicated, so…" he leaned over his desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. "Sierace lives far away. It is not a distance traveled in a day. But I think there are shortcuts. Once in a while, Zelda and Sierace correspond. I've never seen what she writes about, but you could ask Zelda if you could contact her." He looked up.

"So people can get there faster?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how. Zelda said not to invade Sierace's privacy."

"Why not?"

"She doesn't want to be known because people still think she's betrayed them. But most people don't even know she's still alive."

"That's terrible!" Meghan cried. "She never did anything in the first place!"

"Of course she didn't and we know that, but Sierace has turned a lovely shade of _paranoia_…" They all had sad faces on. Luke moved. "Don't let that get you."

They made faces.

"Well, if you want to know, I'll tell you. Long trip. The path to get there is through the forest behind the castle. It's fairly easy to follow, but it is very long. You'll get sick of trees when you're out of there."

"That's fine." Link didn't mind trees at all.

"Yes, well…." He continued writing something on the paper. It was a nice, long paragraph. Nice, long, and Hylian. Meghan sighed. "Sorry, Meghan, but it I'm much faster in Hylian. Link can translate," he said distractedly as he wrote. When Luke was finished he handed the paper to Link.

"It's tricky, and far, but you can do it."

"Sure," he said as he read it over.

"What do you mean by tricky?" Meghan asked.

"Just the path you have to follow," Link answered. Meghan had a feeling that wasn't why.

"You're both trying to hide something from me." Her eyes narrowed.

This language crap? No. This _isn't_ happening forever.

"No, I'll tell you exactly what it says. It says, 'follow the left path until you get to a crossroads, then go right and straight until you get to the fork, then go right again, then the next fork, go left, then the next crossroads, go straight. Then climb the mountain.'"

"A mountain?"

"That's the tricky part," Luke said with a smile.

"Oh, OK…so we have to climb a mountain? Does it have a path like Death Mountain?"

Link closed his eyes and sighed quietly. He looked distressed. "No."

"So we have to climb a mountain? How big is it?" She was acting clueless, but she didn't acknowledge that she felt something was wrong.

"It's pretty big," Luke supplied.

"OK…"

"Meghan, there's a part that I don't know in the directions, but Zelda knows. Can you go find Zelda? She's in the throne room. If she's not there, come back right away."

The throne room was just down the hall. "O…K…" She looked at Link, who stared down at the paper. "I'll be back."

"Careful," Link said nervously.

Meghan nodded and left the room. Link looked at Luke.

"Luke, I can't leave her here alone for that long. Especially after this morning."

What Luke had written to Link said, "_Link, the journey is actually several days to get there. It's not an easy trip, and I don't know the state of things along the way. I wouldn't bring Meghan_."

"And I can't lie to her."

"So, Link, if you want to send Sierace a letter, Zelda has a…uh…magical system that'll get the letters there and back easily."

"Yeah, I'd like to let her know I'm coming…"

"Sierace is a nice person. I've never met her, but Zelda has told me about her and her story."

"Yeah. So is there really a mountain?"

"Link, you thought that up, not me!" Luke laughed.

"But what is getting there like?"

"It's flat forest. You really will get tired of trees after a while, as far as I know."

"OK. I was…just wondering." He stared down for a second. "I have to go there, it's the only way that I'll be able to find out about myself. If Sierace is who she says she is, then she will know of my family."

"I'm sure you'll find a lot of information."

"What about Meghan? I don't want to leave her here alone, but if you think it's dangerous on the way, maybe she would be safer here with you guys. Would Sierace even want her to come?" He wasn't sure why, but he had the strange urge to do this by himself, too. Then he laughed. "Does Sierace even want me to see her?"

"I'm sure she doesn't mind, but Sierace lives in a remote territory of Hyrule with a group of people, either outcasts or people who wanted to be away from the rest of the world. I don't know what kind of people they are."

"Outcasts?"

"Most accused of things during the war. People escaped there during that war. We found the settlement years afterward."

"But you haven't been there?"

"No, never had the chance. But my father had been there."

* * *

Meghan looked in the desolate room. Yes, there were archaic thrones in it, but no people. Meghan looked around; making sure Zelda wasn't indistinguishable in some corner.

"But…Luke…" Meghan sighed. She might have moved since Luke saw her here.

"Oh well." She went to the hallway and thought about where Zelda might be. Maybe her room? "Worth a shot."

Meghan traveled all the way to the other side of the castle, where their rooms were. Meghan walked to Zelda's room. She knocked gently on the door at first, then loudly.

"Zelda?" she called, hearing nothing at first. About to walk away in dismay, she heard a voice. It was quiet, and stuffed.

"Who is it?" the frail voice called out. Meghan barely recognized it as Zelda.

"Meghan."

"Oh, come in!" she said, slightly brighter. Meghan slowly opened the door. Zelda was walking toward her, hair a bit ruffled. Her eyes were red. She had a smile, though.

"Zelda? Are you OK?" Meghan asked, surprised to see the beautiful Zelda look like she did.

"Of course I am. I am just a bit…sad, today, that's all."

"Zelda, don't be…"

"It is all right! I am very glad to see you here!"

"But what's the matter, Zelda?"

"So much has happened today. I just came to rest. Last night I barely slept, because I had a prophecy again." Zelda smiled, but it flickered and faded.

"You probably had the same dream as us."

"You? You and Link?"

"We had a dream…about a girl. She was…"

Zelda nodded, eyes wide. "She was in a strange place, weird place with strange things around. A big black box, a smaller black box, cabinets, drawers, a box with a door and strange circles on top. I do not know where the place was."

"It was my kitchen, at home. My home. Like, Earth."

"Kitchen? What a kitchen! What were those strange things?" she asked with a smile.

Meghan knew she was forcing it, because she had realized that the girl in the dream was Meghan, so she tried to steer the conversation away from that.

"Zelda, you know who it was."

"Yes, I now know. Meghan, please, come sit." She walked over to a fluffy armchair and plopped down. Meghan followed, sitting on another next to Zelda's. Zelda smoothed out her dress and hair, and then took a deep breath.

"Link and I decided that it was just a stupid dream. Why would I be back there? It's not going to happen."

"I see." Zelda played with a piece of hair; something Meghan had never seen her do.

Link and she knew that it wasn't just a dream, and she knew Meghan knew too. But she couldn't admit it; it was so hard today, any day.

Meghan completely forgot about why she came here, and instead started to talk with Zelda.

"So, I don't really get it. What is going to happen to Shina?" she asked quietly, not wanting to upset Zelda.

"Well…I really don't know…"

"OK, that's OK…"

"But…I mean, he came back, so what if he…could do it again? What if he did that?"

"No, Zelda, I'm sure he won't," Meghan responded as soon as she sensed a hint of hysteria. "He's, like, not even strong or anything. I mean, _I_ could probably even beat him up," she joked, flexing her muscles. "Just put some guards around him."

"The man is _evil_! Down to his very core!" Her eyes sparkled with tears.

"Zelda, no, it's OK. You've got this under control. Just put him in the dungeon or something. Hire guards for twenty-four-seven surveillance. Hey, more jobs to the people, right?"

"I'm sure you're right, but…I don't know. It's so hard. Barely two weeks and I'm so overrun already!"

"You are _not_, Zelda! You're doing a great job, actually. The country would be in ruins by now, people would be starving, and…well, I don't even know where we'd be, but it's _OK_. You're everything this country needs right now. Have faith!"

"I apologize for complaining, my dear, but I just…feel…"

"Hey, no problem! If you ever have to rant, I'm always here to listen. Zelda, you're doing wonderfully! I promise you are. I'm not going to lie. So much better than the governments where I'm from. You don't want to be like some of those leaders. I could tell you true horror stories."

"I suppose you're correct."

"Maybe your problem is that you're just too _modest_." She laughed. "You and Link. Come on! Take some credit."

Zelda laughed a bit, and then sighed. "You're right." She made a fist at stomach level. "I must be more conceited." The words just sounded too wrong coming from her mouth. That made the two laughed hard.

"Oh! I just remembered. Luke and Link need you."

"What for?"

"Something to do with a person…named…Sierace. They need to know where she lives or something."

Zelda's eyes grew wide. "Where are they?" she asked urgently.

"Luke's office thing."

"All right, let's go." Zelda and Meghan stood. Zelda quickly fixed her hair and dress and they exited the room.

* * *

"What's taking Meghan so long?" Link realized, his heart pounding slightly more than it should have.

"Oh, Link. Zelda wasn't actually in the throne room. I just told her to go there so she would…leave. So we could talk."

Link was shocked. "So she's gone on a mad hunt throughout the castle to find Zelda for something we didn't _actually_ need her for, while crazy people could still be lurking?" he said angrily.

Luke was shocked by Link's sudden anger. He raised an eyebrow. "Basically, yeah. Don't worry, though. She'll be fine. Extra guards are on duty—"

"I don't care if there are a _million_ guards to each room!" Link exploded. Luke was calm. Link shut up, but then said quietly. "I just…worry," he said awkwardly.

"We all do. Sometimes it's the only thing we can do."

Silence.

"I should go look for her," he said, inching toward the door. "By the way, where did you put them?" Link asked.

"Even Zelda couldn't say no to the dungeon, for those guys. It's disgusting in there. They deserve every bit of it."

Link nodded in agreement. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Luke said, seeing it was Zelda and Meghan. She had found her…

"Luke…what did you tell them about Sierace?" Zelda asked, in Hylian. Meghan fumed.

"I only didn't tell Meghan. I just thought it was best not to, considering. Where Sierace lives is not the most kid-friendly place in the world, and I'd think that either Link or Sierace would fear for her safety. Oh, wait. Link already does." He nudged Link.

"All right, I understand now. So what did you tell her?"

"Sierace doesn't like visitors," Luke teased.

"You know she wouldn't mind. I do understand, however, if Link doesn't want Meghan to go, considering the long journey."

"I don't mind if she comes, really, I just don't want to put her in any danger. You know that, Zelda," Link broke in.

"Perhaps we should contact her first, should we not?" Zelda asked in English.

"We should."

Meghan looked from person to person, feeling like a small child in the midst of a bunch of grown-up talk.

"I don't mean to whine, but can somebody tell me what just happened?"

"We're going to talk to Sierace first. Before we decide anything," Link said, moving closer to her.

"Anything about what?"

"How smart it is to bring extra people along," Link muttered.

"So just you and me, maybe?"

He gazed at her, eyes penetrating her own. He blinked once, trying to figure something out.

She rolled her eyes. "Not me."

Link sighed. She had it fgured out. He should have known. She knew all along. All this secrecy was stupid.

"Uh…yeah…" he said quietly.

"Oh, OK. Well, we have to tell her, right? So why don't we send a letter to her?"

"Come and we will do it right now!" Zelda swiftly opened the door, waiting for them to follow. They all filed out.

Zelda led them around corridors they had not yet explored, to a room they had never seen before. It looked just like any other room they had seen along the way, but its contents were special.

"What is it?" Meghan asked, stepping forward towards something.

It was a circular, thick column, set directly in the middle of the room. The room was made of stone, and was cold and empty except for a desk at the other side of it, strangely. The column was built of what seemed like marble, halfway. It had designs of all sorts around its base. The weirdest thing was that, halfway up, it turned into a column of blue light, shining upward until it reached the ceiling.

"It transports materials. Do not touch it please, your hand might be transported!" cautioned Zelda.

"Ouch! Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Meghan peered into it. The light was so…hthick she could barely see the desk behind it. The column beneath the light seemed to be hollow; she saw only a black hole in the middle of it that seemed to go on forever.

"Link, come here." Zelda brought him to the desk, where she took a piece of paper and a pen, and gave it to him. "Write whatever you feel necessary."

Meghan followed him, watching him as he sat down and thought of what to write. He lifted the pen to the paper, and began to make neat lines that formed the Hylian words. He looked like he had good handwriting. Not that she would know.

"What are you saying?" she asked.

He paused for a second and stopped writing.

"I've only written 'Dear Sierace' so far."

"Oh." Meghan laughed. She thought it was sort of strange that so many characters were worth those two words.

Meghan watched carefully as he gently created each letter, and then finally signed it at the bottom.

"What does it say?" she asked again.

"Basically that I want to meet her and asking when would be OK."

"OK."

Link folded the note and handed it to Zelda, who walked over to the strange transporter. She closed her eyes, then put her hand in the blue light. The letter disappeared.

Meghan looked from person to person. Zelda watched expectantly. Luke leaned against the wall, also watching to transporter. Link stared intently at it. Meghan looked confused.

After a few minutes, she grew impatient. Were they going to wait here until something came? This was one of those moments when phones or texts would be convenient…maybe she was impatient because she'd grown up with those quicker things. She wanted to ask what they were doing, but everyone else seemed to know (as usual), so she just waited like them.

She switched from one foot to another, cautiously gazing into the depths of the blue light. She looked down into where she thought the column would be, but it looked hollow, and all she could see was endless black. She looked up. There was nothing but the ceiling.

She jumped back suddenly as something popped up from the sea of black below. She smiled, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her plight.

Zelda grabbed the letter from the light's grasp and handed it to Link right away. He broke the fancy seal, after he observed it carefully. He read, scrutinizing it. Finally he looked up, his face relaxing. Everyone looked expectantly.

"She just said that she received the letter, and that she's writing a letter at this very moment. She just didn't want us to wait."

_We contacted her!_ Excitement and fear welled inside of Meghan. She was excited that Link could possibly learn something of his past, but feared what could be in store for them both. Completely forgetting the day's events, they all looked expectantly around, and waited for the real letter to arrive.

Just when they were all so impatient that they couldn't wait any longer, another letter came. Link carefully broke the seal again, and set his eyes upon the letter, two pieces of their snow-white parchment. He devoured the writing, taking all of it in. Several unconscious expressions played across his face as he read it. Meghan leaned over his shoulder, not wanting to invade his space, but knowing he didn't mind since she couldn't understand anything anyway.

His eyes swept over it one last time, making sure nothing was forgotten.

"She says…I can come soon. As soon as I want. The sooner the better. She is surprised and says it is…important."

"OK, when do…you…leave?"

"I don't know yet. Meghan, I'm so sorry, but she said…"

"What is it?" she asked in a soft tone.

"She said it would be best if I came alone. Traveling will be faster and everything."

"Oh, right," Meghan said in a small voice. She could feel the stares of surrounding people piercing though her, watching for her reaction. She stared at him for a second, and then looked down. It suddenly felt as though their conversation was artificial, a supernatural occurrence that they would find wasn't real. She started breathing heavily, almost shaking, like people sometimes do when they are extremely upset or angered or confused or anything else she might have been feeling.

"I'm so sorry, but…it's dangerous, it really is, and don't worry, I'll be fine. It's just…Sierace…"

"It's fine, it's OK." She suddenly felt angry at him for putting Sierace before herself, and wanting him to tell Sierace that she was coming whether she liked it or not. Or better yet, couldn't they just talk through letters? She looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to escape the anger that plagued her because she knew it was unnecessary.

"Meghan…please…"

"Just write her something back. Go ahead, do it. I'm fine."

Link looked at her with a concerned face. She wasn't looking at him, but she had a feeling he was. Finally he gave up, sitting at the desk and pulling a new fresh piece of paper from the desk and began his return note.

Meghan didn't watch him with as much intent as last time, but instead merely glanced as she took her spot leaning on the wall, looking from the corner of her eye. Link's message was much shorter that time. She suspected it was merely a confirmation.

The last letter was sent through, and a short time later, the reply came, and, as Link translated, it said,

"Everything is done. Thank you."

From that point on, they all stared at each other. Meghan couldn't fathom what Zelda and Luke were thinking, but she had a pretty good idea Link was thinking about leaving, and specifically, without her.

Finally, they all noticed each other and somehow realized that it was time to leave the strange room. Without even a word, they all walked to the door. With nods to each other, they went their separate ways. Zelda and Luke went one way, while Meghan and Link went back to Meghan's room.

Solemnly, they entered her room. Meghan sighed and walked into her bedroom, throwing herself onto her bed, which had been made up since she had left the room. Lying stomach down, she hugged a pillow tightly underneath herself, propping her chin up on it. She stared at the headboard, watching its patterns as though they were performing an intricate, amusing dance, but they were still. Time seemed to stand still when she didn't do anything, so she believed that if she did nothing forever, he would never have to leave and she would be better.

She felt a soft touch on her back and a slight dip on the bed as he sat on its edge. Without words, and as silent as Hyrule Field on a cold winter day, they told each other everything would be OK. Everything would be fine, they told each other, and everything was not fine at the same time.

Wrapping a strong arm around her waist, and delicately pulling her toward him, he rocked her in his arms and whispered, "I wish there was another way. I can't even say what I feel, leaving you behind."

She nodded, afraid to speak. She hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Link lifted Meghan slightly and resumed their position in the middle of her bed, propped up against the humongous pile of pillows behind them. Meghan shifted her position so that she used his body as a pillow, her head to his chest. He put his arms around to her to rest on her lower back and that was the extent of their movement.

They did not move when they heard a distant clock strike the hour of fourteen. They did not stir when they heard muffled conversations coming from the slightly opened balcony doors. They didn't budge for anything.

Meghan's eyes began to droop as she listened to his breathing, and something else within his chest. A heart beat steadily. She listened. She found it strange. If the function of a human heart was to transport blood throughout the body, and the Hylians retained no blood within their bodies, then what was the function of their hearts? How were nutrients and such transported through the body without some liquid or other substance?

When she felt his heart, it surprised her a bit in the beginning, even though she had felt her own new Hylian heart the past few days, before feeling his now. She also bothered herself by not knowing. She was one of them now, yet she knew nothing of who she was, other than what Link had told her. He wasn't much of a biology person, though.

Shame on him.

It was then when she realized that, if she was going to be without him for a while, she might as well use the time wisely.

_Learning about Hylian anatomy and physiology shall be my first step_, she thought. Then a thought crossed her mind as she thought of all the things she had to, and should, do. Something she had asked Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom. Rather, Nayru asked her and she realized the question she had.

She prepared to ask the question, not knowing which way it would turn, but hoping for the best. All in all, she had to admit that it was a stupid question, but still needed to be asked. It could be dangerous.

"Um…Link?" she asked, breaking the silence. He stirred, mumbling a "yeah?" so she continued. "Um…this is a question, but…um, someone told me to…told me that I had to ask it, so please don't think I'm being ungrateful because I enjoy it very, very much, but…" she braced herself for the question, "Why me?"

"Why you what?"

"Why did you pick me, out of all the girls in Hyrule who are ten times better looking than I?"

He seemed to be affected by the question, and whether it was amusement, disbelief, or something else, she wasn't sure. She was relieved, though, when she felt and heard a jovial laugh emanating from his chest, though it ended soon.

"Eh…" she mumbled, feeling stupid.

"Wait, what other people are you talking about?"

"I don't know…people?"

"I don't even know what to start with because I can't imagine…you're just different. And not just because you came from another place."

"Well…I mean…what do you like about me?"

"What do I like? I like too much. It just doesn't work with anything else. It's destiny, and destiny is ours to hold. I hope that answers your question."

_No_.

"Of course. Nayru will be happy now that I've actually asked it."

"Nayru?"

"Yes, incredibly long story. It would take days to describe, as it rightfully should be. And since…well, you're leaving tomorrow, the story would not get its justice."

"You saw Nayru?" he asked, looking down.

_Is Nayru her...goddess?_ Hylians worshipped all three golden goddesses, but tended to relate to one goddess that embodied the characteristics that person had, similar to a Zodiac sign, for Meghan. He obviously related to Farore (or perhaps was designed for Farore), but he had never truly imagined her as any one of them. She was hard to place, unlike some others. Luke was clearly Nayru. Malon was Farore. Nabooru was Din (most Gerudo were).

"Yeah, well—"

"Two nights ago?"

"Yeah, I—"

"Because I saw Farore that night," he said.

"Oh, well all three were there, I think. _Wait_, you saw a goddess too?"

He was surprised. "Wait, all three?" Maybe Nayru wasn't her goddess, then…?

"Whoa whoa whoa," she said. They were both flabbergasted. Neither had mentioned it. "What did they tell _you_?"

"What did they tell _you_, more importantly? All three?"

"They just made me ask a ton of questions…I mean, uh, not _made_," she said, wondering if the goddesses were listening or something omniscient like that.

"Oh…the same for me, but it was only Farore."

"Did you learn anything interesting?"

"Strangely, I did ask about my parents, but she would not answer. She said I would soon learn."

"Wow, guess she really does know everything."

He laughed a short laugh. "Yeah."

Then she was silent.

"I…love you," he murmured passionately.

"I love you too," she responded. She snuggled into him, breathing his scent as though no other scent existed.

_Believe me, I do._

* * *

**_Wat iz dis? Two chapters in the same week? :D_**


	31. Remix: And Miles Away, My Mother Cries

He spun around in the center of the village, candlelight and otherwise darkness surrounding him.

He usually had _some_ sort of information to go on. Now, he had nothing. There were no records of Ganon's followers. How ludicrous that would be. No, the only thing Luke had for himself was him own memory. Which, at that moment, was even failing him.

He tried to remember a time, three years ago, when he'd seen their backs, seen the backs of their heads. All fourteen of them. Then the faces. The ones who'd come knocking. The ones he'd already found. He envisioned them stomping across the very grass he stood on, raucous and high on their own undeserved power. One with black hair. One with brown. Every one of them despicable.

Who was it? He'd imprisoned the man named Fikel. He'd captured that sleezy blond one. Shina was even out, now. Who was the last person?

He groaned. He tried crossing them off in his head. _What_ did he look like?

But the odds were against him. Nothing to go on but his own memory. Unless he questioned people who had been in Kakariko that day when they'd all come searching for Sheik. He obviously couldn't do that now. He'd wished he could the whole day, but he'd been stuck at the job. His job as _general_. What a weird feeling. It wasn't really what he was meant to do.

He shook his head and started walking, going to the only person he could bother at this late hour. He went to the familiar door.

"Hey, Ma, I'm home," Luke called.

"Luke! My baby!" came the voice of his beloved mother. He smiled when he saw her face walking toward him, and she reached her hands out to his face, kissing him on the cheek as she always did. "You're home so late! Busy day? And I didn't even see you last night! Was the rest of the party as lovely? I didn't stay too late."

Luke tilted his head to the side, giving her a grin. "Yeah, it was quite busy."

She turned away, walking back to the sofa. "I was just reading a wonderful story. Tell me, how's the princess?"

A jab was in her voice. Ah, damn, he didn't expect her to question him about it now. But she knew. He hadn't come home last night at all…

"She's well. Very frazzled."

"Oh, the poor dear. It's a tough job. I'm expecting you to keep her sane, all right?" She winked at him. "Just…be safe, all right?" She looked back to her book, and as though she hadn't meant what he thought, she said, "There are probably crazy people who mean to harm her."

"Ma, that's actually what I was going to ask you about." He went to sit beside her. She looked up from her book.

"What is it, pumpkin?"

He had to laugh at that internally. Here he was, the general of the princess's army, former spymaster (and he was kinda dating the princess of Hyrule) and he still lived at home with his mother…who religiously called him pumpkin.

"Ma, do you remember…three years ago, when all of Ganon's stupid followers came here to look for Sheik? Er…Zelda?"

She smiled mischievously. "You still think of her as that boy, don't you? I told you, though, didn't I? Goddesses, you were in love then as much as—"

"Ma," he said with a sigh. "Please, this is actually very important."

"Oh dear. Well, of course I remember, darling."

"Do you remember who the men where that came to the shop to search for Zelda? Or at least, do you remember what they looked like?"

"I thought you knew," she said.

"I knew…all of them, but there is one I cannot remember. Ma, we have found every one of them. Today, we arrested four. Two of them for the second time—"

She shook her head in disgust. "Shina?"

"Yes, Ma, but there is just one we have not found."

"Oh dear…and by we, you mean _you_ haven't found."

"Yes, Ma. They're very dangerous, even if they are not strong, because they were targeting someone who cannot defend herself."

"Not the princess," she said, knowing from Luke's stories that she was capable of defending herself.

"No, not Zelda, though I suspect she could also be a target."

"Then…why would they be…the girl? Meghan?"

"Because of exactly that. She cannot defend herself, and they know hurting her will hurt Zelda and Link. They are weak, despicable, and incapable of anything else, so they _would_ harm an innocent girl. Luckily, she has Link to protect her. They're very close friends. Now, Ma, can you tell me what the men who came to your shop that day looked like?"

She remembered it clearly. "Yes, there were two. One man with this fiery red mane…oh, he looked awful and scary, and also—"

Fiery red hair?

Oh goddesses. That was it.

"Ma! That's what I needed!"

"What? Did I help?"

"Yes! Thank the goddesses. Ma, the one I couldn't remember…he was the only one who had red hair. I'm sure of it."

"Oh! What will you do now? Oh Luke, please be careful!"

"Don't worry Ma. It's what I need. I have to go now."

"Luke, don't overwork yourself!"

Luke was already by the door. "Ma, I can't help it. If I don't do this, people will get hurt." He turned back to her. "I can't let that happen."

* * *

The very next day, he was going to leave. Meghan awoke, inexplicable sadness growing inside her. She felt it in her stomach from the second she was conscious. She snuggled into his arms, cold, since they had both fallen asleep above the covers because they'd been talking the whole night.

She planted a tiny peck on his cheek, brushing his hair out of his closed eyes. He woke slowly, smiling as he observed her face.

"Morning," she said sleepily, standing and stretching.

"Good morning," he responded, sitting straight. She sat back down next to him.

"So…today."

"Yeah, today."

"Sucks."

Meghan displayed a confused expression on her face, then said shakily, "You should pack what you're going to need to bring."

"Yeah, I'll go do that. Would you like to go with me?"

"Yeah, I just need to get dressed, though."

"Me too."

"OK, if you want to use my bathroom, go ahead. Well, actually I didn't need to tell you to do that because you can use my bathroom any time you want, but yeah," she said awkwardly.

He smiled fondly, and when he left, she pulled on a pair of black pants, a short sleeved black shirt, and black boots. She left her hair down, combing its part to the middle.

Yes, today was one of those days.

The fact that he was leaving left a feeling in her like the rope that had been tying her down was about to be cut. Truly, she had nothing in Hyrule to keep her down. Link was the only thing that anchored her. She didn't have family, and though she had friends, she was not as close to them as she was to Link. She felt like she was about to be alone in the world. She started wondering if she should have made an effort to become better friends with other people. She loved Saria, but when would she ever find her? They didn't have phones. Was she close enough with Malon to go bug her at the ranch? And Zelda. She loved Zelda! But she always felt like Zelda was taking care of her, and Meghan couldn't make her be her friend on top of that. And no matter how down to earth, she was a _princess_.

When she entered the main sitting room, Link was already there, waiting for her. He had a blank expression on his face, just staring at a spot on an inanimate object for a while, clearly thinking something complicated.

She walked over to him and stared at what he stared at until he looked at her, still distracted.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

Meghan sighed and threw her hands around his neck. "I know." She rested her forehead on his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"

She sat down. "Not much. Just about the trip. Leaving you behind."

"Link, there's been barely a few hours we've been apart for a month or so now. Now it will be a couple of days…"

"I know…I…I wish you could come, but…Sierace…you can't. It's..."

"Is it _really_ that dangerous?" She couldn't imagine. She thought all the evil weirdness was gone.

"Must be." Everyone had been advising against bringing her. Maybe they just wanted Meghan all to themselves while he was gone? He couldn't blame them. But was it really safer here, without him? Zelda and Luke would keep her safe. He had to convince himself of that. Shina and his people were taken care of. There shouldn't be a threat in Hyrule any longer. They would tell him if there was a reason to worry for her safety.

"Well then, perhaps we should get you ready."

Link turned his head and nodded, staring deeply into her eyes, letting in every glimmer of light reflected by her eyes into his own. Slowly she leaned forward and rested her forehead against his, confiding in his strength and wisdom and hoping they would be OK.

* * *

The guards were ordered to be on highest alert for a man with red hair. Luke had a small debriefing in the soldiers' headquarters, once for the day guards and later for the night guards. Don't let a single man with red hair through to the castle. Permission to use force if he defies these orders. There was excitement running throughout the guards. This was what they were there for, and they wanted to do their job. They remembered the dark times well.

Meanwhile, Luke was searching. When he had free time, he slipped to Kakariko to question people. Did they remember or see the man? Most hadn't. A few thought the description rang a bell. They gave him a few leads, but the correct man was nowhere to be found. He met with another man with red hair, but determined with certainty that was not the correct person.

Hyper vigilant, he returned to the castle. He made rounds of the castle, checking on the guards, checking for signs of any intruders. He found Link, Meghan, and Zelda on their way out, and wished Link a safe journey.

* * *

"Do you have everything you need?" Zelda asked as Link slowly strapped on the last of the saddlebags to Epona. Meghan stood next to Epona and stroked her gently. Link nodded.

"That should be everything. I'm only leaving for a week, goddesses."

"I know, I just want to be sure." She stopped. "We'll all miss you, Link."

"I'm only leaving for a week," he repeated, frustration hinted in his voice. "I'll be back in a week. Don't miss me."

Meghan listened to their conversation from the other side of Epona, but didn't feel like joining in. She rested her cheek against Epona and massaged her. Epona seemed to sense their unhappiness and nuzzled Meghan. She smiled for a second.

From behind her she felt a gentle touch on her back. She turned and faced Zelda.

"You can't hide behind Epona forever."

"Don't let him leave," she whispered.

"It is inevitable."

Meghan sighed. Zelda gave her a smile and walked away towards Luke. Meghan put her arms around Epona's neck. She could feel Link adjusting the saddle through Epona, but suddenly stopped. She assumed he was finished and cringed as a lump formed in her throat.

"Meghan," he called softly to her. He was now on the other side of Epona, with her. "Meghan, talk to me."

"Link…don't leave, you can't!" she said into Epona's coat.

"I have to…"

"You don't _have_ to do anything!"

"Meghan, please, _please_ don't argue. I can't."

"I'm not arguing, I'm just saying you can't go."

"You're being childish. I have a million reasons to go." Then quickly he realized that she could have taken that the wrong way. "Even though I have a million to stay. Please, I promise I'll be back before you know it. I don't want you to be sad, and you're overreacting. Well, we're all overreacting, but please just look at me."

She did, but felt slightly hurt that he didn't seem as sad to leave her. And that he'd told her she was _overreacting_.

"Thank you. I'll be back in a week, if not less. I don't believe it'll take any longer. She knows I'm coming for a short time. I'll stay for a day or two, and leave. Nothing more. Nothing will happen to me. You'll be fine. You'll have time to do things you couldn't do with me coming along."

"I…suppose."

"Thank you, Megs. Can I just have a hug before I go?"

"Of course!" She stepped forward and squeezed him. Then he placed a kiss on her forehead, and stepped away.

Before she knew it, they had said their goodbyes and Link was nearly out of sight, into the forest. She only just began to realize what happened.

"Now he's gone," she whispered to herself. "The first time ever."

"Meghan—" Zelda began in a worried tone. But Meghan turned and smiled slightly.

"Now I can go learn more biology!" she said happily, beaming now. "The first thing I would like to learn is how the Hylian body works. How are essential nutrients and oxygen and stuff transported throughout the body without blood? Do the stomach and other internal organs work the same way? Why can't you guys choke, and what's with the extremely weird anaerobic respiration?"

Zelda and Luke were relieved that they didn't have to go to extra measures to get Meghan to cheer up.

"Feel free to use the castle's library, then! I'm sure you'll find what you need-in almost any language you desire."

"Even French?"

"Well…"

"That's cool. I'm getting right to it!" She started walking off, back inside the castle. "I need a notebook…and a pen…" she mumbled to herself as she walked away.

* * *

The royal library was huge and must have stored every book known to every species in every dimension ever created. Just kidding, but it was huge. Meghan found paper and a pencil on a desk near the front of the library. She looked around, then decided to start looking for the books she needed on the right side of the huge room. She didn't know how it was organized, and there didn't seem to be anyone around to ask.

She looked at the books on the far right wall. She frowned.  
"Why do they have to all be in Hylian?" she moaned.

She turned to the wall behind her. Hylian. The next three shelf/walls were all Hylian too.

But finally, she spotted a few titles on a shelf in her language. They weren't the books she was looking for, but she was glad that she was getting closer. She read the titles of the books, seemingly fiction, and thought that when she was done with her research, she would come back and look at a few of these titles. They looked interesting. She noticed a book or two on magic, and she thought those would be interesting to check out too. She wondered if she was now able to do magic, since she was Hylian.

Then there were a few non-fiction books. They were random biographies and other stories. The next shelf was reference.

She looked carefully at each title, thinking whether or not they would be helpful. The titles Hylian Anatomy, Inside the Hylian, and a few books containing scientific essays caught her eye, so she removed them from the shelves. She quickly glanced through them, making sure they were what she wanted. Then she brought them to the back on the library, where she had seen chairs and tables for reading.

She sat on a fluffy armchair that conveniently had a hard, desk-like surface built into the right arm.

She opened Hylian Anatomy and began looking at all the pictures. This book, she decided, would be helpful to her for many reasons. It contained detailed pictures on every other page on the left, then explanations on the right. The first page was the outside appearance of a Hylian. She quickly turned the page, because the drawn Hylian woman and man were not…um…clothed.

The next page was the skeletal system. It was, as far as she could tell, very similar to the human structure. The names given opposite the diagram were different, however. There was an anterior and a posterior view of the skeleton.

Then she noticed the ribs—there are twenty-four on a human body—and was surprised when she found twenty-six labeled. The way they were shaped, she noticed, as she looked closer, was a little different. The sternum was longer and the whole ribcage was shaped more round in the front instead of opening in a triangular shape. The difference was subtle, though. She didn't really notice any other differences, but she wondered why it was that way. Natural selection? But what advantage would it have? She jotted down, "Larger ribcage with 26 ribs—possible extra organ? Extra protection for lifestyle lived?"

The next page was muscles. It seemed about the same. She didn't look over it too much. She didn't really know too much about muscles, nor was she interested in them (except Link's dreamy ones…drooooooool).

After that was a diagram of the internal organs, first a full body picture, then larger individual pictures of each on the next few pages. She looked in the thorax and found what she was looking for. There was a round organ below the heart. It was attached to the bottom of the heart with a vein-like tube.

"Hello, what are you?" She looked at description on the page opposite the diagram. It was labeled the "selura." A few pages later there was a more detailed description of the heart and the selura. The heart seemed to be larger in proportion to the rest of the body in the Hylian. But that still could have just been the illustration.

"The heart pumps the seluric material, produced by the selura, throughout the body in tubes," it began. Tubes seemed to be their word for artery and vein-like vessels. She took notes on several things while reading the description. The seluric material seemed to be a clear to whitish substance that was sticky. It acted as some sort of fast-acting platelet-like material, healing wounds as soon as they were made.

But even though she learned of this new selura, she couldn't understand why there wasn't any blood. She read the heart and selura descriptions twice, but nothing talked of any sort of liquid that transported essential things. It was frustrating. She didn't feel like there was _nothing_ inside of her. She thought maybe it was magic that kept Hylians going, but she didn't feel magical either. She was sure that wasn't the case.

But maybe they don't _think_ they have blood? Maybe the seluric material prevented blood from being exposed. Could their scientific knowledge be limited? Maybe they didn't think they had blood because no one had ever thought of the idea before! It would make sense, since where they lived was like a sanitary Middle Ages. There wasn't extensive technology or anything, so maybe their scientific knowledge was of the same level. But they must have dissected cadavers to find as much information as was in this anatomy book. She wondered if the seluric material was that good at hiding it. She felt certain that there was something yet undiscovered in the Hylian world. Maybe she could help!

She jotted down a few more notes:

"Possible functions of selura/heart:

-Selura was made as a form of blood clotting like platelets and that's its only purpose (Creationism-goddesses' idea?)

-Selura was formed later on in Hylian evolution by natural selection—but for what? Predators? Hylians were losing too much blood? Infections? Were they getting infected too easily? Is there, perhaps, an airborne bacteria that threatens Hylian life? (Evolution-natural selection) or was it just so they didn't lose blood?

-There is no Hylian blood for some reason: Oxygen is "magically" transported throughout the body (But then why is there a selura?)

-Other method of transport…?"

She picked up a book of essays and began skimming through them to see if any scientist or other person had thought of any useful hypotheses or theories.

She was just writing a last note when she heard a sound. Her back was to the entrance of the library, so she turned to see who it was.

Zelda was walking toward her. She smiled.

"Meghan, did you find everything that you needed?"

"Yeah, I found a lot of the books I needed. The answers that I wanted, however, are still to be found."

"What is it that you need?" She sat in a chair across Meghan.

"Well, I found out about this selura organ, which secretes the seluric material. But nothing speaks of how oxygen is transported! It bugs me like crazy. Is there really nothing? Is it magic? Or maybe…it hasn't been discovered?"

Zelda laughed. "To tell you the truth, I am quite interested in science myself. And throughout the years I spent…in hiding…I had a lot of time to think of these things. I just couldn't seem to figure it out."

"I wish I could carry out experiments. I really have a problem not knowing all the things about myself, if I am what you are now, you know, a Hylian. And my hypothesis is that you guys do have blood. You've just never seen it because the seluric material acts like super-fast acting platelets."

"There are several scientists in Hyrule. I'm sure that I'd be able to recruit some of them so you can all converge your theories and experiment."

"That'd be wonderful!" She imagined a bunch of guys who looked like Hylian Einsteins. But she imagined they knew a ton, while she merely took an introductory college biology class.

"In fact, do you remember Sheftali?"

"Yes, Devan and Dia's mom, right?"

"Correct. She is our leading biologist."

"Are you serious?" Meghan's jaw dropped.

"Yes. She is rather knowledgeable."

"I'd _love_ to talk to her! Oh my gosh! That'd be great."

"I will see next time I see her if she needs a fellow scientist in her lab."

"Thanks so much!" Meghan was excited. Biology! Her favorite subject ever! And this lady she knew was an expert? Too cool!

"Of course! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Would you like to join Luke and I for lunch?"

"Of course!"

"Great. If you would like, I'll have someone bring those books to your room." She eyed Meghan's small horde.

"OK…"

"All right, then. What would you like to eat?"

* * *

"That was really good."

They all agreed. "I guess I'm going to back to my room."

"All right, Meghan, I will talk to you later. I'll be having dinner at seven if you want to join me again. If not, there will be food anyway in the kitchen."

"OK." She waved and went to the door, Zelda and Luke still sitting.

"And Meghan?" Luke asked.

She turned. "Yeah?"

"Try to stay around the castle and the town, all right?"

She looked back with wide eyes and nodded.

"Thanks. Nothing to worry about. It just puts us more at ease."

As Meghan walked out of the dining hall, she sighed. She felt like she was being taken care of a little too carefully, with every meal catered. She wished for a bit of autonomy. She really wished she had her own kitchen to cook in, to make her own things (even if they were only half as delicious as what she ate at the castle). But she didn't want ask for more. Somehow seeking independence felt like asking too much.

She found the books she'd picked at the library stacked in a basket just outside her door. She picked them up and went inside.

She slumped onto the couch for a second. She tried not to let Link into her mind, but his lovable, flawless face stared at her, smiling, laughing. And she thought he was alone too. But she was sure he wasn't crying and being upset. But it was hard being alone. At least he had something real to do.

All of a sudden she felt scared. She was alone for a few days. A sense of security faded and suddenly she felt exposed. No one was there at her side, for her exclusively. If anything happened, if anyone came…and what was Luke's warning all about?

No. She she didn't want think she was unsafe. And if so, she was strong enough to fight it, wasn't she? (yeah right) But Link…she had to see him again, of course. She was there for him. She was alive because of him. And really, why would anyone try to hurt her? She wasn't important to the country or anything.

She stood up quickly. She'd forget these things. All was well and she knew it.

She wanted to talk to somebody. Someone her age that would understand. She didn't feel like talking to Zelda, she was too mature. She needed to unwind. She thought of all her friends, all the people she knew in Hyrule. Who could she talk to?

Saria, Nabooru, Malon, Kazana, Epona, Galaxy…

She only thought of Link, who was like her other half detached at birth and sent into a different dimension. Or maybe she was the one sent to a different dimension. He was just like her: silly when necessary, serious when needed. She needed silliness right now, but that wasn't happening.

She decided to just go for a walk. She went to Lon Lon to get Galaxy.

"GalGal, my baby horsy, you're so adorable," she said in baby talk. Galaxy was in the paddock, eating some grass when she came. She slid the halter with the lead rope over his head and brought him back to the stables, where she got his tack and put his saddle and bridle on. She didn't see Malon there at all, which was sort of a shame. Even if Meghan wasn't close to her, she would have exchanged a few words with Meghan, made her feel less lonely.

"Galaxy, do you know where Unicorn Fountain is?" He shook his head and snorted. "I'll show you, then." She mounted and led him out of Lon Lon ranch.

"Well," she said as she led Galaxy out in the field, "I told Epona we would keep it a secret, but I'm sure she won't mind if you know. I'm sure you won't tell anybody. OK? Don't tell your horse friends."

They reached the forest. Galaxy slowed, noticing all the trees.

"It's OK, boy." She guided him to where the faint path was. He was a bit hesitant, but he grew more confident as they walked through the trees. She tried to follow Epona's footsteps, which were faint in the mud.

They came to the cave. Meghan dismounted. She led Galaxy into the cave after taking a brief glance around. All she saw was trees, everywhere.

It was dark and she felt Galaxy panicking slightly, but soon he saw the light ahead and calmed.

Then, as they emerged in the fountain area, he seemed to be perfectly fine. He looked around and sniffed. Then finally he let out a snort of approval. He walked to the water and gave it a sniff too, then drank some.

"There must be something utterly irresistible in the water." Galaxy breathed into the water, then lifted his head, dripping. "Aaw, I love you, my little horse!" He looked adorable in that position, water dripping from his chin.

Being at the Unicorn Fountain relaxed her. She could watch the water flowing, or the beautiful walls reflecting the water. On the ledge of the fountain, she lay down. It was wide enough for her to fit. What a magical place!

She stared at the ceiling, resting her hands on her stomach. The water balanced right beside her, almost level with the ledge, as though it was a continuation of the white marble pool wall.

"Galaxy, it's not really fair. He left me. I mean, I know he didn't _leave me_ leave me, but he's not here. He's always here." She closed her eyes. "I can always go to him. It's just weird that I grew so used to his presence that I'm suffering withdrawal, basically." She let her arm fall over the ledge into the water. It was cool, but not too cool. She felt the urge to swim, but didn't want her clothes to get wet.

She sat up. "Galaxy, would you be deeply offended if I swam in your drinking water?" Galaxy snorted, then tossed his head. "Thank you."

She took off her shoes, then stood and unbuttoned her pants.

"I really do hope no one knows about this place, for real." She slid off her shirt, leaving nothing but underclothes and her necklaces.

Normally, she would never think of doing anything so risky, but she liked her new body so much she didn't really care if anybody saw her. She felt like a model. And also, the place was a divine secret between her and the horses as far as she knew. And she hadn't spill to anyone. And she didn't care if another horse came in.

She slowly slid into the water, savoring the coolness. It felt wonderful. It also was surprisingly deep. The water came up to her chest. She took a breath and ducked her head under.

She could open her eyes under the water. It was clear and perfect, beautiful. She surfaced and looked at Galaxy.

"Mm…I wish you could enjoy this." She went to the wall and leaned her back against it, sinking into the water up to her neck.

She thought of Link yet again. What if, by strange chance, he happened to come here suddenly? She thought that maybe Sierace had cancelled and he came back? Maybe he decided not to go? She knew it didn't make sense (they didn't have phones or anything), but she didn't care. She imagined that Epona had brought him here, and the secret of the fountain was exposed, but she didn't care because he was back.

She imagined herself where she was, with her back to the entrance. He would come up to her, silent as always, and gently touch her on the shoulder. She would be surprised and jump up, but it would be just him. She'd smile and hug him. He'd be surprised—after all, she was wearing almost nothing. But she wouldn't care—what's the difference between this and a bikini? Not much.

She closed her eyes, letting her mind wander to places she'd been afraid to let it go before. She felt as though she was free. She'd felt free for a while now, but she realized there was no one in her thoughts, unless Link somehow had managed hide the ability to read minds from her. Which, she had to admit, wasn't entirely _impossible_. But extremely unlikely.

She stopped herself before she damaged her own brain. She opened her eyes and swam to the unicorn heads.

Each one was carved beautifully from some marble-like stone, detailed to the very skin texture. They looked like real horse heads, save for the pointy horns protruding from the center of their foreheads, and the lack of coloring. Their eyes were white, as though staring into space.

She reached up and touched the face of one, stroking its cheek as though it were a real horse. It was cold and hard, unlike a horse. There was no love in their form. They were just statues.

She was disappointed. She didn't expect anything, really. They were just statues, but she couldn't help but feel rejected. By a statue.

She resumed her earlier position against the wall, facing the statues. She realized she was just being moody. She needed to relax, badly. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Before she knew it, she had sunk down to where the water reached her mouth. She opened it and let some water in. It tasted OK. But she knew better than to drink random water. Especially in Hyrule.

She lifted herself out of the water, ringing her hair out. She didn't have a towel or anything to dry herself with and she didn't want her clothes wet so she lay on the ledge again, one leg bent and the other out straight. One hand rested on her stomach and the other on her forehead, sending droplets of water down her face.

Then she remembered something. She traced her hand over her ribcage, searching for the extra bones and irregular shape. Sure enough, her sternum seemed to extend farther down and the bottom ribs didn't create such a triangle shape. She was excited and tried to see if she could count her ribs but she kept messing up. She stopped after a few tries. She didn't really know how to count ribs. She wondered if the last few ribs were all true ribs, instead of the false ribs humans had, where they were just attached by cartilage.

She looked at her abdomen. The scar was still there…that one that Ganon had inflicted upon her with his evil blade. She felt it. It was smooth, but clearly visible in a pearly-white line. It spread about six inches across her stomach just over her navel. She sighed because it was probably going to be there forever. It didn't matter much, because it was easily hidden and didn't hurt, but it still felt like a terrible reminder of that person who had hurt Link and Zellie's country so terribly. She almost felt like she was carrying the last tangible piece of him, which was upsetting.

Meghan waited there until she was dry. She heard Galaxy sniffing. Other than the sounds he made, though, it was silent in the cave. When he took a step, it echoed throughout the cave several times until it had faded into nothing. She opened her mouth and sang to herself, her favorite songs from Earth.

When she was mostly dry, she sat up. She finger combed her hair, which was surprisingly easy to do even though her hair was still wet. She put her clothes back on and took Galaxy's reins, leading him out of the cave.

She sky was cloudy and it was dark. It looked like it was going to rain. She got on Galaxy and rode out of the forest. After she had taken so much effort to make sure she didn't get her clothes wet, it soon began to rain.

"Oh no, Galaxy! I got all naked for nothing," she laughed. The rain became heavier and it was uncomfortable to ride in so she dismounted. She didn't want to have Galaxy get too wet though so she decided it was quicker and easier to bring him to the castle rather than go across the field to Lon Lon again.

She led him as fast as she could walk to the entrance of Hyrule Castle Town. She heard a sound and stopped, looking behind her.

A person on a light brown horse was galloping her way. She stopped, thinking it might be someone she knew. She was thirty or so feet from the drawbridge into Hyrule Castle Town. As he grew closer, she realized she didn't know the person. So she pretended to be worried about Galaxy, petting his head, to avoid the awkwardness of the fact that she'd just been staring at the guy. She looked Galaxy in the eye and he seemed to get it. He backed up and nickered, acting like a nervous horse might.

"Good boy, Galaxy." The person was very close to her now. He slowed, and then stopped a little bit away.

She pretended not to notice, and continued to pretend trying to calm Galaxy down.

"Having trouble?" said a deep voice in a bored tone, in Hylian. She turned and looked at him, giving a small smile, not really understanding but generally getting what he meant. He seemed nice…?

"No, I'm fine, thank you." She turned back to Galaxy, who immediately calmed down on queue. She expected to hear him get back on the horse, but she heard nothing of the sort. Instead she heard light footsteps coming toward her. She went to Galaxy's side and stopped there, about to get on. She turned to face the man, smiling. He was close to her, yet not that close, but he didn't still look too concerned. He looked more curious. Maybe he didn't speak English? "Thanks, have a good day," she said quietly and put her hands on Galaxy's saddle to pull herself on, but she didn't expect what happened next.

He grabbed her arm and pulled it away from Galaxy. She gasped, not sure what was going on. His grip was strong and unshakeable. The strength reminded her of Link, and she was scared.

"What?" she cried. He smiled and pushed her to the ground with such force that she hit her head. He pulled out a sword and lifted it to a striking position. She rolled over and stood up. He turned to her. "What the _hell_ are you doing?" She considered the possibility of running, but she seriously doubted she'd be able to get away quickly enough, so she tried to act tough. Maybe…scare him off…?

"They call me Rilba. I'm here under Shina's orders to kill you. Next is the princess. And then that Link kid." Rilba was wearing a red shirt and had slightly curly, shoulder length red hair. The man looked ripped with muscle. He was _damn creepy_.

"Well you can tell Shina he can kiss our asses, because Link will kick yours." She pretended that Link was still around so maybe he would go away…maybe.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but Shina said you were a rude little girl."

"How did you even talk to Shina?"

"This plan went into effect many days ago."

"That doesn't answer _how_. He was in _jail_ a few days ago."

He ignored her and instead attempted to hit her. She jumped back. What should she do? She had no weapons and if she tried to run he would probably pursue her. She didn't think she could quickly enough. Maybe she could get on Galaxy quickly and go somewhere safe.

"You can't touch me because Link will be here in a few seconds—" she gasped as he swung madly at her again and again. The tip of the blade cut her arm. She recoiled. The rain dripped down her face and limited visibility, sticking her wet hair to her face.

"Galaxy!" she called, turning and running away, shoes sloshing in the mud. She heard him following her. Her heart was already pounding, a terrible fear like she was playing a deadly game of tag. Galaxy followed her and stopped a bit to the side. She tried to get to him but when she paused to mount, he caught her by her hair. She yelped and he pulled her back to face him. She clawed at his face with her nails, digging into his skin. He snarled and let go, but swung yet again with his sword. She dodged it barely and noticed Galaxy coming closer. Galaxy made a shrill sound and reared, kicking Rilba in the chest. He didn't fall but lost balance, and in attempt to stay balanced, hit Galaxy in the leg with his sword. Galaxy shrieked.

"No! You _idiot_!" she screamed, on the verge of tears. She kicked at him, her foot attempting to solidify his fall.

But she knew she shouldn't have done that. He caught her foot at the last moment and pulled her so _she_ would fall. The sword cut her cheek as she lost balance. She winced, but tried to kick him with the leg he still held. He didn't let go. She turned over and tried to crawl away. He pulled her back. She flipped over to face him, trying to get up. He punched her in the face, sending searing pain through to her mouth.

"This was easy. I suppose I didn't expect much, though."

_No_, she thought, _I didn't have my sword_…She tried to think of other things she could do quickly because he didn't look like he was going to let her leave in one piece.

Suddenly, her adrenaline rushing, she remembered what she _could_ do. Her last defense…her last hope. Her anger all centered in her body as she screamed at him, right palm straight into his face,

"_FURY_!"

_I can't help my laughter as she cries_  
_My soul brings tears to angelic eyes_

A ball of white-hot anger flew from her and hit him directly in the chest. He fell backward. He looked unconscious.

She lay for a few seconds, catching her breath, feeling so tired she was unable to move, and waiting for the pulsating pain to pass. But she willed herself to sit up when she remembered Galaxy's injury.

"Galaxy…" she breathed, crawling the few feet to him. The mud was everywhere…in her hair, on her clothes… He was nursing his wound. "Baby…" It was red but the constant rain washed away the blood as soon as it came out. Meghan was on her knees next to him. She touched around the wound and he snorted, taking a step back. "I'm sorry…"

He looked her in the eye. She fell back, sitting on her feet, the rain washing everything away. It was slightly cold and she was soaked. Her eyes started to water.

"Galaxy, are you OK?" she choked out. It thundered in the distance. From the corner of her eye she saw the other horse, panicking from the loud noise. It started to run off. But she didn't care. She fell over, leaning on her arm. The man lay unconscious, still, but she feared he would wake. Still, she couldn't get herself to move much farther.

Galaxy still looked at her. Then, finally, he moved back to her, kneeling onto the ground next to her.

"Galaxy?" she asked. She knew what he wanted to do, but she didn't want to hurt him. His eyes stared at her as he whinnied long and loud. She smiled. "Thank you…" She moved and pulled herself on his back. He straightened his legs and stood as if waiting for something.

"Galaxy…go through Hyrule Castle town into the castle…it's this way…" She nudged the reins. He followed. She slouched forward, practically lying down even though it was uncomfortable. She felt so weak and tired. She was shaking.

Galaxy trotted to the drawbridge. She closed her eyes as he moved, felt his steps, but didn't know exactly where they were after a second. After a minute or two, she heard voices.

"What is that?"

"Look! It's Meghan!"

"What happened?"

"Meghan, what happened?"

"Hey, horse! Stop! Whoa!" But Galaxy kept going. She didn't know where to. She didn't look. But she noticed the rain stop pounding at her back. Voices still followed her. She held onto Galaxy's neck for dear life.

"Get her down and bring her to Zelda!"

"Somebody go get Zelda!" She heard lots of footsteps, clinking and chatter. She kept her eyes closed. She didn't feel like opening them.

"Meghan, are you awake?" somebody asked. She didn't answer. She didn't feel like it. Galaxy kept moving.

"The horse won't let us help her down!"

"Hold him still." Galaxy whinnied and moved, stepping nervously.

_Maybe he's afraid_…she thought. She sighed, and then heard more commotion. It was far away, but it was coming closer. She waited for it.

"This way!" a voice said.

"Meghan!" she heard a girl's voice say.

_Oh, Zelda! Hi…_

"Meghan, what happened?" Zelda was close. She was next to Galaxy… "Luke, can you help her down?"

"Yeah." She felt some hands on her and she was pulled from Galaxy. Galaxy actually stood still. The arms were strong and supportive but not the ones she wanted. She was gently put on a stone floor, someone still supporting her head.

"Meghan, look at me," Zelda gently said.

"She's conscious?" Luke asked.

"Yes," Zelda confirmed. "Meghan, open your eyes and tell me what happened." Meghan shook her head gently. Zelda touched her hand. "Meghan, please. I need to know."

Meghan opened her eyes slowly, looking at her location. She was in an area at the side of the castle that had something like a roof over it, so that was why she didn't feel the rain. There were a lot of guards around her, watching.

Zelda looked at Luke, who was still holding her head, and he said in an authoritative voice, "You're dismissed." He looked at the guards around and they looked at each other, slowly dispersing. She heard the clinking of the rain on their metal armor. "Except you. Bring the head of the stables."

"Meghan, please, you need to tell me what happened," Zelda said firmly as she busily took off her gloves. Meghan's eyes drooped.

"I'm tired…" she said in a slurred voice, her eyes closing then opening slowly.

"Why are you tired, sweetie?"

"I don't know…" she said sleepily.

"Meghan, please try to remember for me." Zelda held her hand over Meghan's chest, a reddish glow coming from her hands.

"What are you doing?" Meghan asked, her words slurred together.

"Nothing. Just tell me. Why are you tired? What did you do?"

"I got angry."

"Why were you angry?"

"I don't know…he made me angry."

"Who made you angry?"

She lifted one of her hands deliriously. "Him."

"Who is he?"

"…you know."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know. Was it Link? Did he make you angry? Please tell me."

"No. No, he didn't. _He_ made me angry."

"He did or he didn't?"

"Not him."

"Who is he, dear? Please tell me."

"Um…" She tried lifting her head. "Galaxy!"

"Galaxy? Your horse?"

"Galaxy is hurt!"

"We'll help him in a few seconds. Tell me why you're angry."

"Rilba."

"Is that a person?" Zelda wasn't sure if she was just making things up.

"Yes, it's him."

"Who is Rilba?"

Meghan's eyes stopped drooping. _What…what was he doing? _She just wanted to go to sleep. "He wanted…"

_Ugh, forget it._ She stopped trying.

But there was realization growing inside Luke. He'd suspected from the first moment they found Meghan like this, but he knew now. He remembered…

"_General," Luke greeted, taking a seat beside him. He and his cronies gave Luke a scrutinizing look. _

"_Who's that?" one of them asked Shina. He shrugged._

"_Dunno, Rilba. His father must be a soldier, is that right?"_

"Meghan, please!" She increased the intensity of the magic coming from her hands.

Meghan started to feel it. She searched her mind for the correct word.

"Yeah…assassin." She nodded her head, squinting her eyes.

"_Shit_," Luke cursed in Hylian. "It's him."

Zelda looked to Luke, who looked ready to bounce up and run straight back to wherever Meghan came from (but for the fact that he was holding her head up). "He's an assassin?"

"I guess so." Meghan felt clearheaded almost suddenly. She attempted to sit up, Luke helping her. Zelda pulled back her hands, and they faded back to a normal color. Meghan felt slightly lightheaded.

"Did he say why? I need to know exactly what happened," Zelda pressed.

"I know," Luke cried, and took the chance to jump up and sprint off through the mud, exactly where Meghan had come from, fast as lightening.

"Luke! Wait!" Zelda cried, holding her hand out. "Be careful!" She turned back to Meghan with a worried grimace. "Tell me what happened?"

Meghan nodded. "I was…out in the field... I saw him coming and I was off Galaxy because of the rain. He stopped and asked me if I was having trouble with Galaxy, and I thought he was just trying to help. I told him no, but when I tried to get on Galaxy he pushed me on the ground. I…think I got up and he…told me that…he worked…for Shina or something. He was supposed to uh, kill one of us. He attacked me with a sword, and I didn't have my sword. I tried to get away, but he kept pursuing me and wouldn't let me get on Galaxy. And then Galaxy tried to protect me when he pushed me to the ground, but he hurt Galaxy on his front right leg…and that made me angry."

"What else did he do to you?"

"Well, he never hurt me seriously I guess, but he definitely meant to."

"It does not match up. Why are you this tired?" Zelda asked.

"Oh, I used the fury magic thing."

"Oh…yes. That explains it."

"It was huge. I've never made one that huge before."

Zelda was shaken. This must be what Luke was so worried about, if her ran off at the sound of the name. Why hadn't Luke told her his name? "Where did Rilba go?"

"Well, after I hit him he was knocked out. I don't know. I was too tired to think about what happened. Galaxy completely brought me here on his own. He's extremely intelligent. Sorry. I should have…I dunno, not left him there because he's dangerous."

"No, Meghan, no. You needed to leave. He could have seriously hurt you. We will take care of him. He was still unconscious when you left?"

"I believe so."

She looked around, but Luke had dismissed everyone in the vicinity. One soldier would come back with the head of stables soon enough, though.

"Meghan, can you stand?"

"I think so…"

Zelda helped her up. She blinked a few times, regaining herself.

"Meghan, maybe you should rest."

"No, I can't."

"You will have to. You are very worn out. I only gave you a little energy that might run out soon. Please…"

"I can't," she repeated, terrified of being alone now.

"Will you at least come inside and sit with me?"

At that moment, the guard and the head of the stables came.

"What is it that you need, Princess?" he asked.

"This horse, Galaxy, is hurt. Kindly clean up and dress his wound, then bring him to Lon Lon Ranch to Malon. She will take care of him there."

"Yes, I will." He took Galaxy's reins, and he protested slightly, looking back at Meghan.

"Go ahead, Gal," she coaxed. He reluctantly followed the man back the other way. When they were gone, Meghan said, "Zelda, if I had my sword I could have taken him."

"You probably could have," Zelda said, though she didn't really think Meghan could. The only thing she had that could "take" him was that fury blast, not sword skill.

"It's just not fair that I'm never ready for anything that happens."

"It is OK, Meghan. The important part is that you are fine."

"I'll never be able to sleep again without...I mean…I'll just never be able to sleep."

"Yes you will. Do you want me to stay with you? I would gladly." It would make Zelda feel much better as well.

"No, Zelda, that's…OK." _Not really._

"Meghan, let's just go back to your room. From there we will worry about everything."

"OK."

They walked slowly to Meghan's room. Meghan collapsed onto the couch, tired but too scared to fall asleep. Zelda sat in a chair, watching her for a moment.

_This is horrible. Never again will she feel safe. I am afraid I can never make her safe. What will I do? I do not know who out there is still on that side…there could be more than I'd ever imagined. This is so horrible._

Meghan stared at the ceiling, unblinking. At the slightest sound she'd turn to look. She was very tense.

"Meghan, do you want anything to eat or drink? I can get you something," Zelda inquired softly.

Meghan sat up slowly.

"No, I am a bit—eh, but…I don't want you to get anything for me." That wasn't the truth. She just wanted Zelda to stay because she felt safe with her. Zelda could see that. But she was thirsty and maybe hungry.

"Meghan, you will be fine if I leave for a few minutes. I promise. The kitchen is only a few doors down, remember? It will only take a few minutes, I promise."

"I'll come with you, then."

"No, you lay here. Rest. You really need to."

"I can't, though." She stared at Zelda, and Zelda looked back.

"I'll be right back." She stood.

"No!" Meghan cried, standing too. "Please don't!"

"Meghan, please don't worry. I'll return in a few minutes."

"No! Don't please! No!" She went to Zelda and grabbed her arm. "Please don't leave me here…"

"See you in a few minutes…" she gently took of Meghan's hands and went to the door, smiling gently. Meghan followed her, but Zelda was already shutting the door and locking it. Meghan put her hands on it, then nervously played with her hair. She paced in the room, looking out the windows whenever she felt something changed. It was too quiet for her. She lit all the candles and sat in the middle of the sofa, looking around the room every few seconds. She stood and paced, going to the bathroom door, and then turning and going back to her bedroom, where she got her sword and put it next to her on the couch.

* * *

Zelda walked into the back door of the kitchen. She found her favorite cook, the head chef who had been working there since she was a child, sitting at a table and reading. Granice was a person she could trust with all her heart, since she was young.

"Granice, I need something."

"Oh, hello, Zelda!" she said bouncily.

"Granice, do you have sleeping potion?" she asked quickly.

"Yes, Zelda, but why?" Granice stood. Zelda explained the story very quickly, but she left out a lot of details that might frighten Granice.

"I need to hurry."

"Yes."

"Can you bring me what's left from lunch and a pitcher of water? And the potion."

"Yes." Granice quickly got what she needed and put the food on a tray with a pitcher of water and a glass. "How much potion?"

"Enough to quickly put her to sleep just for the night."

"Of course." Granice added a few drops of potion to the water and then stirred it. Zelda took the tray and thanked Granice.

"Thank you. I'll come back later, but now I must go."

"Good luck with that, Zel."

"Thank you…"

Zelda quickly went back to Meghan's room. When she opened the door, Meghan was actually standing across the room with the Kokiri Sword in her hand. She was shaking, but then relaxed slightly.

"Meghan, it is fine. It's just me." Zelda put down the tray on the coffee table.

"Thank you…Zelda…" Meghan looked at the food greedily, knowing it would make her less exhausted. Zelda poured some water and Meghan downed the whole glass, then picked up her fork and ate the tasty meal made of vegetables down to the last crumb. She drank more water.

"There," Zelda said, smiling. "Now, if you won't sleep, that'll at least give you more energy."

"OK." Meghan sat back on the couch.

"Meghan, if you won't sleep, will you not at least lie down? You do not have to close your eyes, but it is better than sitting there as rigid as a board. Don't worry, I will be here with you."

Meghan hesitated, but lay down regardless.

"Thank you. Now, talk to me. What do you feel like doing tomorrow?"

"I don't know…maybe…" she paused to think, but her eyes drooped. She couldn't think straight again. She fought it, but to no use. "Maybe…" she started slowly, but she fell asleep. Zelda sighed. She went to Meghan's room and got a blanket, covering Meghan before she left the room.

Downstairs, she met up with some guards. "Please, can you five please try to find Luke? He went to the field, searching for Meghan's attacker. I fear greatly for his safety."

"Of course, Zelda," they said.

"Please, be careful. That man is dangerous."

"Understood, Zelda," one said, and they all saluted her before rushing off.

"I am sorry Meghan," she spoke to herself as she watched them go. "You've had the worst day."

_And miles away my mother cries  
Omnipotence, nurturing malevolence._

* * *

Did he seem like a movie star now?

Here he was, running through the rain. Mud flying everywhere, soaked to the bone, his father's sword clanking at his side. Hopefully the man was still there. Hopefully the rain hadn't washed away his tracks, if he had moved away. When Luke got to the field, he saw emptiness as far as he could tell. He looked for the tracks, and luckily, he spotted the location, not too far from the drawbridge. There were horse hoof prints interrupted by gashes in the mud likely made by a frightened, rearing horse. And of course, there were footprints, flattened grass, and some marks that looked like someone had been dragged. A few smaller footprints he estimated to be Meghan's size, and then there were rather large ones. He could deduce a few things from the tracks in the mud, but that wasn't the important part now. He was glad for the rain, actually. The tracks were easy for anyone to see.

There was a very slight impression in the grass, then the tracks of someone crawling, then eventually walking and running panning out over the space of several feet. They were the same large feet. He followed the muddy steps.

They led across the field to a forest, darkened by the cloudy skies. He slid between trees cautiously, waiting for the tracks to end and a sick, evil man to stand before him. They were no longer running foot prints, and they were fresher beneath the cover of the trees. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

Rilba had stopped beneath a tree, leaning against it, his hand to his face. Luke drew his weapon, alerting the man to his presence.

He turned, maybe too slowly, and faced Luke. Luke was momentarily shocked by the sight. His skin was burned, from his cheeks down to his clavicle, a strange red-brown color. Rilba's hand slowly moved down from his face to his side as a smile grew, made more maniacal by the wound. He was easily twice Luke's width, all muscle, but they were the same height.

"So it's you," he said, his sword in hand.

Luke was silent for a moment.

"I didn't think you'd come looking for me," Rilba spoke again, moving closer.

Luke was calm. "I've come to erase Ganondorf from this world."

"Hate to tell you, kid, but you can never destroy our lord."

"Link already has. I just have to pick up the garbage for him."

Rilba still smiled, turning his head slightly. "Unfortunately, it was foolish of you to come here. Even though I'm weakened. What do you wish to accomplish? If you killed me now, you would be no better than I am."

"I will let you believe that. I will let you believe every lie and despicable thought you've ever had because you don't deserve any better."

"Who are you to say what I deserve? In my eyes, you don't deserve anything. I know who you are. Son of the spymaster. Privileged since birth. Treated like a prince yourself. You will never understand what it's like to be nobody, to be powerless to your own bleak future. Ganondorf was the only person who understood that most of us had _nothing_ else."

"You were seduced by side of darkness. If your mind was not clouded by Ganondorf, you'd understand how wrong your words sound. Besides, if I didn't come here, you would certainly meet a very unfortunate end in Link's hands. He won't be happy when he hears what you did to Meghan." Rilba laughed at the sound of her name. Luke was disgusted by his apparent pleasure in her pain. "Of course, you couldn't even hurt her. You couldn't even touch your simplest target, could you?"

Rilba's face grew into a scowl. "Enough talking."

Rilba raised his weapon, a long sword, and rushed the few steps to Luke. Luke evaded, moving to the side, his own sword held out before him. Rilba turned swiftly to him, but Luke could tell that Rilba was slower than himself, either because he was weakened or because of his huge size. Still, his arm came down to Luke again, another swipe of his sharp blade. Luke met the sword with his own, deflecting it to the side and jumping back. Rilba attacked yet again, throwing his bodyweight into his blow as Luke met it again. Luke stumbled, throwing himself to the side to avoid falling, but he still became unbalanced. Rilba took the chance to throw himself at Luke again, and Luke was only able to hold his blade up to avoid being cut. He fell to the floor, Rilba's blade raised high above him. It came down, and Luke rolled to the side. He got as far as kneeling before the blade came again, and with his right hand he raised his sword high to block the blow.

Luke stood, knowing that he couldn't beat the man by strength. It would have to be speed and brains. They were both still for a few seconds, breathing hard, waiting for the next move. Luke figured Rilba would try again soon, but _he_ had to attack this time. He raised his sword high, about to strike at throat height. Rilba moved to block, but at the last moment, Luke moved his sword the opposite direction and struck at abdomen height. Rilba moved to evade, but couldn't escape a shallow horizontal laceration. Rilba growled.

He only looked more venomous with all the wounds. He charged at Luke again, striking constantly. Luke blocked, ducked, and evaded. Finally, Rilba landed a blow on him, striking him across the chest. It was another flesh wound, but it distracted Luke. For some reason, Rilba moved his fist into Luke's face, turning his head around.

"Sorry, pretty boy, but this is not your fight. I will finish what I need to do," Rilba said in a serious, deep tone. The rain, which had been light and blocked by the trees, grew heavier and began to pour on them even beneath the covers.

Luke breathed heavily, turning back to his enemy. Rilba slowly walked to him. The blade swung again, and Luke blocked. Rilba didn't move his sword away, however, and he stood locked with Luke's blade. Luke breathed through his teeth, slowly buckling under the strength. He willed himself to send a burst of strength through his sword, swiveling out of the way, directly behind Rilba.

Rilba pivoted, slashing his sword, but Luke ducked and thrust his own sword forward.

It was amazing how quickly the guilt formed at the pit of his stomach as he felt the iron pierce through flesh, through muscle, through organs…he didn't even know what else. Rilba was still for a moment as Luke felt the guilt grow. It threatened to spill out of Luke as Rilba coughed, a deep moan escaping his paling lips. Luke's eyes were wide as he gently pulled his weapon back to himself, and Rilba stood still as Luke stumbled back.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?" Rilba grumbled, his eyes strangely empty as he stared through Luke.

Luke shook his head slowly.

Rilba took a deep, shuddering breath. "I guess you've won. I guess you were right, weren't you, kid?"

Luke couldn't think of what to say. Rilba coughed again.

Then he laughed. "If I'm leaving, then…I'm taking you with me!" he yelled, lunging forward. Luke was surprised, not expecting Rilba's attack. His sword flew up at the last minute, blocking just in front of his face. Rilba was simply leaning his body weight on the sword, not really using his muscles. Luke threw him back. Rilba was vertical for a moment before falling to his knees.

"Even in your last moments, you could not see the light. I am sorry for that," Luke said quietly. His eyes searched somewhere above, to the trees, to the skies, as he heard clanking of armor behind him, people calling his name, and then a thump in front of him.

And then he felt sick. He turned and rushed to a tree, leaning against it as the guilt flowed out of him in bucketfuls, washed away by the rain. He hoped that this was the end, at least. At last.

_And miles away my mother cries  
Omnipotence, nurturing malevolence._

* * *

**Several confessions:**

**I love writing these extraneous Luke scenes. I dunno why. But he's still my favorite character. But he's also my marysue/garystu dude, so just now I kinda gave him a weakness (he pukes when he kills Rilba, in case that wasn't clear). If you read the original, you might remember that Meghan kills Rilba accidentally with the stupid fury magic thing, but I thought that was kinda dumb because I don't think the attack is so strong. Also, _more_ importantly, I didn't want the weight of taking someone's life on her shoulders. She's too innocent! So Luke has to kill him. And it makes more sense, especially when you tie it in with events from Double Hearted. So yep. Poor Luke. I always see him as older, but in this last scene I think...he's just a kid. He's my age. Crazy. I know Link is even younger, but I feel like Luke's struggles are more realistic, so they're more relatable. Maybe? lol.**

**Oh yeah, the lyrics are from the song "God Called In Sick Today" by AFI. It's always been the song for the Rilba attack. lol. :D**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Love youuuu! **


	32. Remix: Regret

Dripping wet and breathing hard, Luke found Zelda in the throne room, the last place he'd expect.

"Zelda, we found him," he said quickly. Zelda didn't respond. She was standing in front of the King's throne. The throne. Where her father had once sat, jovial and good hearted. Her mother had sat delicately beside him, her smile lighting the entire kingdom. Her father had led the country through war, and united it once again. Her father had met his end at the hands of the same evil Link later fought and destroyed. But how could this evil still be here, taking lives and sanity, as it had seven years ago? It simply was not fair.

She didn't turn at Luke's words. Luke was at the other side of the room, so he moved closer. Maybe she hadn't heard.

"Zelda—" he began, but stopped. She was shaking. He went closer. He heard small sounds coming from her. He realized that she was crying. "Zelda!" he said worriedly.

"We fought for everything, everything! And it did nothing! He may be dead, but he still lives in people. They'll never stop!" she yelled hysterically, looking at the wall.

"Zelda! Calm down!" Luke said, touching her arm. She didn't stop.

"Everything is like a _game_! It's all my fault…"

"Zelda! Stop it _now_!" he said firmly. She stopped talking and fell to the ground, her head on her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. "Zelda, there's nothing you did wrong! All fault is in the hands of the idiots who have done things to Hyrule and us. It has absolutely nothing to do with you. And your noble changes to Hyrule were not in vain! Look, everyone lives happily now. They can travel throughout Hyrule and not be afraid! Zelda, you and Link saved everyone. They can be free now. They _are_ free! But you can _never_ completely rid the world of evil, you _know_ that. It's impossible. That's why we're _here_."

"Luke…" Zelda sighed, her sobs ceasing. His tone had been firm, not quite aggressive, but enough to make sure she got the message. She had, and she realized. "I'm sorry, it was just in the wake of the moment I just became so upset…I feel terrible for Meghan. She feels so unsafe, and so do I. I fear can't really do anything for her either, at least not until Link returns."

"Don't worry. She'll be fine. Was she all right? Is someone watching over her?"

"Yes, she is resting now. Unfortunately I had to give her sleeping potion…she just wouldn't rest otherwise. There are guards at her door." Zelda straightened. Then she laughed, her face tear-stained and bits of hair loose. "How foolish I am. I must look awful."

"No, no, not at all." He smiled warmly and wiped some of her tears, savoring the beauty that she held even now. Since his face was close, she saw some sort of strain in it. He was wet and seemed to quiver as he knelt down to her.

"What happened when you went out there?" she asked, sensing something was amiss. He had a look in his eyes that she hadn't seen in years. Something so sullen and joyless that she knew something significant had happened. Then she noticed the cut in his shirt and desperately moved her hands to it. "Oh, no, Luke! Oh no…I'm so sorry…what happened?"

He stared at her for a few seconds. "We won't have to worry about Rilba anymore." Again, he seemed to shake. He closed his eyes for a second, as though he suddenly didn't feel well.

Her lips slightly parted, she stared with realization, putting her hand to his face where a bruise seemed to be forming, pushing away his wet hair. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head as he spoke, "I didn't know anything about him. What if he had a family, Sheik?" He lapsed into the old name for her, in his need for comfort.

"Luke, of all things, this you must not feel regret for! You did what was needed to be done. If you had not, he would have killed others. He had no regard for lives. Ultimately, you did do the right thing, and Hyrule will thank you for that."

"He was still a person, Zelda," he said in a low, broken voice, looking down.

"He was nothing more than a monster."

He shook his head.

"Luke…" she said. He looked so young. He always looked so capable, so worldly, but now he looked like a scared boy.

"Zelda, what will we tell Meghan? We have to let her know…she doesn't have to worry."

"We'll just tell her—"

"Zelda…I'm ashamed." He looked to her. "I'm ashamed. I watched my father die and I never thought I would cause someone else to die. I didn't want to."

"What excuse should I make?"

He looked to the side. Then he sighed. "At the same time, I cannot put this on someone else."

They looked at each other with understanding. They were still both kneeling on the floor near the thrones. Luke threw his arms around Zelda, holding her tight to himself.

"Zelda, I have an idea. For Meghan."

* * *

She couldn't remember how she fell asleep, but sometime in the night she woke. The clock said it was 1:30am. She gasped and stood up.

"Zelda!" she cried, looking around the room. "No, you said you'd stay!"

Meghan was frantic. She looked around the room. It was dark, what if someone was there?

She lit the candles, an arduous process. Curse the lack of light switches! She looked around the room shakily. Behind the curtains, under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, in her dressing room, everywhere. There was no one.

It was very quiet. She wished terribly that she had a CD player or MP3 player or something to blast to break the silence. But there was nothing here. She wanted to scream. She really missed her music. She was greatly tempted to break out the flute Zelda had gifted to her, except for the fact that it was 1:30 in the morning.

She searched her brain for all her favorite songs, ready to sing to herself. It calmed her down slightly because it took her mind off things as she tried to remember all the words. She was more afraid, at that moment, of forgetting the songs than she was of anything else. Maybe she was driven a bit crazy.

She thought of a song by the band AFI, called "Death of Seasons." She chanted the lyrics to herself, deciding it fit her situation well. "Of late, it's harder just to go outside, to leave this dead space, with hatred so alive."

She imagined the ending string part and nearly cried. The song always made her emotional because it was just so darn good, but now it was positively beautiful beyond doubt. How she wished to listen to it! What she wouldn't give. She made a mental note to try to transcribe the music one day.

She was calmed then. She didn't feel like going to sleep, but she changed and sat at her desk and took a piece of paper and a quill. She wrote words that had to do with how she felt, occasionally turning to look behind herself in her now bright living room. She wrote about how she felt lonely and how she felt scared, and it turned into something like a poem. She was happy with her work and she stuffed it in the top right drawer.

She looked back at the clock. Only 2:00! How was she supposed to kill all this time in here? Why had Zelda left her here, anyway? She felt slightly betrayed…

Meghan decided to read something. She found the book she had started reading about a week ago, Hyrule at a Glance. She had never finished it, so she decided to then. It took a few more hours to do that. It was around five in the morning, and she needed to kill more time. She got up from lying in her bed, and went over to her desk. The flower that Saria and the Kokiri gave her was closed, asleep. Just as she should have been. She touched it. It seemed so fragile, but when it was open, it was breathtaking and looked fake because it was so beautiful. Thinking about Saria and her birthday, she remembered the book Impa gave her. She found that in the second drawer in her desk on the right. It looked very interesting. She took that to her room.

She read until the sun started coming up. She could see the lights coming in through the curtains. It was 6:30. She yawned and continued reading. Her back was stiff from sitting in the same position forever, but she dared not move to her stomach. Somebody could sneak up behind her! It was horrible. So she stayed where she was, against the headboard of her bed, and continued reading. Soon though she became restless and she got up. She was hungry, but she didn't want to leave. She guessed Zelda had taken the food away that she had last night. That was the last thing she remembered doing last night-eating the dinner Zelda brought her.

She realized what must have happened. Someone drugged the food! But why wouldn't Zelda have stayed with her or something? She became convinced that someone else did it. What if Rilba had woken up and gotten in the castle and attempted to poison her? Or put her to sleep so he could easily kill her? She started getting nervous. She was standing in the doorway between her room and the living room. She looked nervously around, and went to the corner of the living room. From there she could see the whole room. With her sword, she sat against the wall. Then she started crying. She tried hard to calm down. She tried to be as silent as possible. She couldn't.

Eventually, she just couldn't keep crying. She became angry. Stupid people! Everybody was so stupid. No one understood anything. They all were so stupid. Especially Link and Zelda. She decided to give Zelda the silent treatment, even though she felt bad about being in the castle when Zelda had been so nice to her before. She promised herself she would be angry with them. But even she knew that she'd never been _that_ successful about ignoring anyone.

Time passed by. She thought about the same things, each thought bringing more thoughts but eventually, she forgot her rage.

Then it was 8:00. She decided that it was a good time to get up, but she still didn't want to leave her room. She paced, deciding whether or not it was safe enough to take a trip to the library. Then she went to get changed into her clothes.

She put on tan pants and a dark green shirt, after slowly looking through all her clothes and carefully picking something our. She tied her hair in a ponytail, redoing the style several times. The sword was on her back. The sun shone earnestly from behind the drawn curtains, begging to be let in. She hesitantly opened the curtain on the windows near her desk. The brightness came in. She squinted for a second.

Without the uncertainty of nighttime darkness, she felt a little better about leaving her room. She decided to wait a bit longer, until she was sure that the castle was busy and full of people, until she would leave. Then she would only go to the library and there she would sit in some corner. Or something.

After a half hour of pure boredom, she couldn't wait any longer. She felt anxious and scared, but she got the sword and her little knife and she felt somewhat safe.

She went to the door to leave. But as she opened it, she nearly screamed. There was a person standing there.

But she stopped herself just in time, seeing Zelda. Zelda had a lovely "good morning" smile on her face. She was very good at keeping her façade as pleasant and worry-free as possible.

"Good morning, Meghan," Zelda said cheerfully. Meghan smiled uncertainly, both because the feelings of "you left me all alone" came back, and because she had noticed what Zelda held in her hand. Well, sorta in her hand.

"Good morning. Who is this?"

For Zelda held a leash, attached to a rather large dog at her side that looked like a Mastiff.

"This is Liam. Luke came up with this wonderful idea. Liam is a watchdog. We got him from a dog trainer in Kakariko. Luke and I thought that maybe you would feel more comfortable with a dog trained such as Liam."

"Wow…um, he's huge." Liam came up to her waist. His massive head was even with her stomach.

"Do you like the idea? Liam is all yours if you do."

"Yes, I do. How does…he work?"

"We only need to make sure he knows he must protect you. Liam, this is your owner." She gave her the leash. "Liam, this is who you need to protect." Liam went to Meghan's side and sat obediently. He was even taller when he sat. "Liam, who is your owner?"

Liam turned to Meghan, looked at her, and barked once. Meghan jumped.

"Yeah, that would scare me."

"He will alert you if strangers come too close. Tell him "friend" if you trust that person."

"OK…"

"I hope you may be able to sleep better, as I assume you didn't sleep well last night at all?"

"Um…not really." _Thanks a bunch, Zelda._

"You did fall asleep when I was here…but I think you woke up. I had to leave when Luke returned."

"It's OK…" Meghan didn't tell her about the horrible night she had, and Zelda didn't either.

Was she selfish, Zelda wondered? She'd spent the night holding Luke in her arms, comforting _him_. Not watching over the lonely, frightened girl down the hall. Still, the way he'd turned so vulnerable…she somehow felt he needed the comfort a bit more.

"Well, Liam is here to help. I don't know if you want to keep him, but if you want to give him back…maybe when Link returns, that will be fine."

"Oh…" She'd never had such a huge dog. He looked at her, then licked her hand with a huge, sloppy tongue. "No! I'm keeping him, as long as that's OK!" She smiled. He really was _cute_.

"Wonderful. Would you like me to demonstrate his training?"

"OK...?"

"I'll be right back."

She kneeled down to Liam's height. "Looks like you're mine now." He licked her face. "Ew!" She wiped her face and gave him a hug. Then she put her hands on his face "I used to have a dog like you, only she was tiny. She was a pug, and they look like you. Only you're like four…or twenty times larger. Her name was Sophie." Liam sniffed her nose. Then he turned suddenly, standing. He looked down the hall, sniffing loudly.

Then she saw Zelda return with Luke. Liam growled softly in his throat. Meghan looked.

Luke came sorta close, then stopped. Liam walked in front of Meghan, growling at full volume. Zelda stayed back. That made Meghan laugh.

"Zelda…" he started, but Liam barked. "Zel-" Bark. "Zelda, this guard dog is very well trained," he declared shakily.

"Yes, he is." Zelda was holding back laughter.

"I feel scared."

"You should," Meghan said, narrowing her eyes. She now felt safe because Liam seemed very well suited for the job.

"Is he going to hate me forever now?" Luke asked quietly.

"No…I think I just have to tell him you're a friend."

"Please do so…" Luke looked nervous.

"Liam, friend. This is my friend." Liam relaxed when he heard the word "friend." His growling stopped. He walked over to Luke and sniffed him, then came back to Meghan, sitting at her side.

"All right, that was very scary." Luke walked forward. Liam didn't pay attention. Instead he sniffed the floor and walked back into Meghan's room, sniffing along the floor.

"How old is he?"

"I believe he is one year old. His birthday is August 5th."

"What does he eat?"

"The cooks will be preparing his meals daily. He's probably hungry now, actually."

"OK. Liam, let's go to the kitchen." Liam turned around at the sound of his name. "Come." Liam followed. Meghan held the leash loosely.

"I hope this works for you, Meghan," Luke said.

"Yes," Zelda agreed.

"It's great." She looked at Liam, already feeling attached. "I love him already. He's such a cute dog."

They smiled, almost hesitantly, at her.

"See you guys," Meghan said as she closed her door and walked to the kitchen. Luke and Zelda watched her walk away. Zelda thought about how she'd thought Luke looked young last night, but now she realized how young Meghan looked. Her hair swinging as she walked, her feet lightly pattering against the stone ground, the way she glanced slightly unsurely at Liam every few seconds.

She was still just a child.

* * *

Meghan found the kitchen. Liam didn't growl. Meghan was surprised because she didn't know the cook, and thought Liam would guard her at the very least.

"Hello!" greeted the cook, Granice. "You must be Meghan. Zelda told me all about you. We haven't met, though. I know Liam from this morning. I'm Granice, head cook." She smiled warmly, wrinkles accenting her round face and gray hair. She was slightly plump and she wore her hair back in a tight bun.

"Nice to meet you. When did you meet Liam?"

"Zelda brought him in here to show me and tell me about his food. I have it made." Granice beckoned toward the counter on Meghan's left, where she saw a large metal bowl filled with brown bits of things.

"What's on the menu?" Meghan asked as she looked into the bowl. It wasn't exactly appetizing, but it didn't look bad.

"For him? Cuckoos and rice."

"Wow, OK." So much for vegetarianism. Meghan took the bowl and an empty one next to it, for his water, Granice said. They were heavy bowls.

"Thank you," Meghan said politely, smiling. She felt she could trust this lady. She seemed so warm and grandmotherly.

"You're very welcome!"

Meghan laughed. She stacked the water bowl underneath the food bowl, because it was empty. She dropped the leash. "Come, boy. Bye! Thanks!"

"Good bye!"

Meghan went back down the hall, Liam following obediently.

Meghan let him into her room, and then set the food bowl next to the wall on the door's right. She went into her bathroom to fill the bowl with water. Liam ate the food happily, and then lapped up some water. She couldn't get over how huge he was. She could probably sit on him and he could bring her places like a horse. She laughed at the thought. She then thought of Galaxy, and hoped her horse was doing all right. She felt bad…but she didn't have the courage to go find him.

He walked over to her, his face dripping with water. She chuckled then wiped the dripping mess off his muzzle with a towel from the bathroom. He jumped onto the couch. Laying down, he took up most of the couch. She had just enough room to sit at the end. He put his head in her lap and she stroked his soft head,

She sighed. He was adorable. But still so menacing. In ways, he reminded her of Link. So gentle most of the time, but so fierce, so powerful when need be. Trained to be that way. She petted him from his head to his back over and over again, his eyes drooping.

After a while, she gently lifted his head from her and told him they needed to go to the library. He got up when she told him to come, and they went there. Liam stayed faithfully by her side as she picked out books and read, some fictional, some containing the necessary things she needed to know about being Hylian.

She spent a while in the library, until Meghan remembered she needed to find out if Galaxy was all right. But she was afraid to leave the safety of the castle to go to the ranch. She knew Liam would protect her, but she also feared for him, and there was only so much he could protect her from. He wouldn't know if someone was using a projectile weapon!

She was too scared to go, but she didn't want Galaxy to think that she was abandoning him. She was too confused. She guessed Galaxy would have to wait one more day. She really didn't want to go all the way there…and she wasn't in the mood to search for someone to come with her, because then still she would never be too safe, or feel it anyway.

She sat back down and picked up a book, thinking about Galaxy.

When it grew dark, Meghan still stayed in the library. The candles lit the place just enough so she could read comfortably The little area in the back where the chairs were located was very cozy, and the atmosphere made her forget everything but the book she read and the dog at her feet, who she petted every once in a while.

Later that evening, she started growing tired. Her eyes drooped as she read the lines of the fictional book she found, which was a romance novel about two lovers who couldn't be together. It reminded her of _Romeo and Juliet_, with much less of the confusing Billy Shakes talk. She loved _Romeo and Juliet_, so this book intrigued her. It was funny how the concept of impossible loves and relationships was universal, multi-dimensional.

She put the book down on the coffee table in front of her. She would continue to read it another time.

"Come, Liam," she said. Liam got up and walked by her side.

When she was in her pajamas and about to get in her bed (after her daily rituals of throwing the covers and pillows off the bed and onto the floor), Liam dutifully jumped next to her, taking the empty spot on the side other side of her huge bed. Meghan couldn't lie down for a few minutes because she felt anxious suddenly. It was dark again, and that brought along uncertainty. The only light came from the single candle by her bed, and the bit of light from the moon showing through her curtains.

She looked nervously around, not wanting to put out the candle. Liam looked at her. She knew that he wouldn't let anything happen, but still, she feared for him, too. She went to the balcony door and made sure it was locked, then the front door, and finally the door to her room.

Finally she couldn't really keep standing up. She lay down, but kept her eyes open. They swept the room. She kept thinking she saw moving things, shadows, but it was either the flickering candle, or her mind.

Her eyes drooped even more. She opened them, but without her consent, they closed. She tried again. They fell back down. Once more, they opened halfway, but she couldn't keep them open.

She was asleep.

* * *

"_Link, you're not here, are you?"_

"_No, I'm with Sierace."_

"_What are you doing with Sierace?"_

"_I do things. Don't you like things?"_

"_Of course I do. Things are fun."_

"_I'm glad you agree."_

"_Link…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_We both like things, right?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_So let's do lots of things when you return."_

"_That sounds great."_

"_I love you."_

"_Love you too." _

"_You're the best."_

"_You too."_

"_There's a monkey in my shirt."_

"_There's one in my pants."_

"_Aren't monkeys great?"_

"_They rock."_

"_Rockin' monkeys."_

"_Yay."_

* * *

Meghan woke, the strange dream fresh in her mind.

"Whoa…" she said, opening her eyes. She faced the wall with the door to the balcony, the sun shining in. "That was an interesting dream."

She wondered what they were talking about in the dream. Things? Like what? And the monkeys…wait; did Link even say that things rock? She was pretty sure he would think that that meant rock as in rocks that Gorons ate. Unless she had explained that to him. She couldn't remember at the moment.

She realized she didn't have a blanket on. Liam was panting. Suddenly she realized that it was hot.

She felt uncomfortable, like she was sweating. She had to get out of the bed. Liam was immediately alert and jumped down too.

She put on a frilly white tank top, like the one she'd worn to go swimming. She was sure it was meant for under clothing, but she didn't care. It looked just as good outside. She put on white pants.

After she tied her hair in a ponytail again, she touched her ear. It was so long and still alien to her. She wanted to see if it bent over like a human ear. She took the tip in her fingers and bent it over. It amused her.

She looked to see where Liam had gone. He was sitting next to her bed, watching her and panting. She smiled and went to pet him.

"You're so cute!" she baby-talked, petting him on his head and behind his ears. He wagged his tail. "Come on…you need to go see people to get acquainted with them. But first, breakfast and visiting Zellie."

Meghan and Liam went to the kitchen, where they greeted Granice and got Meghan and Liam's food. She had gotten up late and everyone else had eaten, so she decided to take the food to her room. Meghan was excited when she saw a huge pancake-like thing on her plate.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Flat cakes, eggs, and an apple, with fruit juice."

"Ah! Flat cakes? It's like pancakes. Thanks." Meghan brought her food back to her room and put down Liam's bowl. She sat on the floor near him and ate her own food.

The "flat cake" tasted somewhat like a pancake, but it was really sweet, like there was syrup inside it. The side of the large pancake were some scrambled eggs. They were vegetarians here, but obviously not vegans. When she'd finished everything on the plate except the apple, she left the plate and her glass on the coffee table. Liam didn't finish all his food, but stopped eating. She took the apple with her as she and Liam went to look for Zelda and/or Luke.

"Hey Liam, can you sniff out Zellie?" He looked at her. "Guess not. I don't have any of her things for you to smell."

They went to Zelda's room and Meghan knocked on the door. Nobody answered. It was hot in the hall. She decided to go look somewhere else…somewhere cooler.

Liam panted as they walked down the halls. Just in case, Meghan peeked in the dining room. The long table was empty. She closed the door and continued down the hall. She made her way to the throne room, even though she was sure no one was there. She went in anyway. The long room, crowned by two tall thrones, was stuffy and the sun shining brightly in from the stained-glass windows didn't help at all. It was like a greenhouse.

She didn't pay attention to that though. The room was huge and empty, and she and Liam were alone. She practically danced to the other end. Down up up, down up up, waltzing through the room and she twirled across the floor. Liam ran playfully at her side as she stretched her arms in ballet positions. She switched to chenné turns as she approached the thrones, stopping abruptly with a smile as she stared up at them. They were raised two steps. She had an urge to sit in one, as though this was a museum and not a real castle anymore. She was sure Zelda wouldn't mind, but she had to remind herself (or try to convince herself) that this was real.

Even though she had only danced about for a minute, she felt sweat on her face. She wiped her brow, laughing, and called to Liam. They ran back to the other side, and left that room.

The only other place she could think of was Luke's office. That was not too far from the throne room, down a few halls.

After a few minutes, she arrived at the door. She hesitated, but knocked. It was quiet for a second, but then she heard a voice,

"Come in," he said, just like the other times she had come here. When she opened the door, his bright green eyes and boyish face greeted her. But even his face, the one she always expected to be filled with buoyancy and energy, was tired looking. He smiled as she walked in, but it was watered down. His normally impeccably neat office looked a tiny bit cluttered. And it was very hot. The window behind his desk was open, but no breeze offered any sort of comfort.

"Hey, Miss Meghan. I scarcely even realized that you were knocking. You're so quiet. How are you this fine morning?"

"Hey, Luke, I'm OK. It's very hot though." She let Liam in.

"Would you mind closing the door? Top secret stuff in here," he joked. "I know, the weather is not on our side. But alas. The summer is starting."

"Already? Where I lived summer didn't start until June." It was only May!

"Really? That's interesting." Meghan didn't feel like standing so she sat in the chair against the wall.

"I feel so bad for you. This room is very hot."

"Well, it's no blissful retreat, but I make do. So, what are you here for? How might I help you?"

"Well, I dunno. I was just bored. I was looking for you and Zelda but I only found you."

"Oh. You'll have to settle with just my company. Zelda went somewhere this morning and I have no idea where. She wouldn't tell me."

"Oh..."

"Yes, and I worry for her." He sat back in his chair, looking above Meghan's head. "But I cannot stop her." Then he smirked. "She _is_ the princess, after all."

Meghan loved how Luke could always bring the fun into any conversation. Liam had lay on the floor on his side and was panting. Luke looked over his desk at him.

"Poor Liam. He must be hot with that fur," he noted.

"Yeah…"

It was silent for a moment. Luke looked at Meghan, though she was still looking at Liam. "Meghan," he said quietly. She looked up. His voice had sounded so much unlike itself. He didn't speak again.

"Hmm?" she asked, prodding him to continue.

He took in a deep breath, his eyes locked with hers. She felt a bit uncomfortable. "I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry anymore."

She looked at him and blinked. "You mean about…uh, you know, that guy?"

He nodded slowly, still staring at her.

"You arrested him?" she asked quietly. She felt, though, that the huge, terrifying man—ugh, no. She shuddered. Luke didn't answer. He looked to the side, leaning forward on his desk. Then, finally, he shook his head.

"I should have," he said in a cracking voice. _Regret_.

But he'd just said she didn't have to worry. What did that mean? "But…did he leave?"

He tilted his head to the side, indicating that her answer was half right. Then she realized. "Did he…?" she started, but she didn't want to say the words. "But…how? Oh god, I didn't…" She couldn't have! He had been unconscious when she left, but there was no way her silly magic thing could have killed a person. No way. _But it had killed monst_—

"No. It wasn't you." And then he mumbled something in Hylian beneath a sigh. It sounded like he was frustrated and upset, and she hoped she wasn't frustrating him. "I should have told you about him," he finally said in English.

"What about him?"

He shook his head. "I knew he was out there. I knew, and that's why I advised against you going with Link. I thought you'd be safer with walls around you, not out in the open, even if Link was there. But I'm no good at protecting you, Meghan. I should have been much more careful. I even told Link that I would watch over you, promised him." He then laughed some kind of incredulous laugh, then said, "It's a long story, but I'm not as good of a general as I thought I would be. I'm so sorry for that."

"Oh, Luke…don't say that. I was the one who went out, when you told me not to."

"No, Meghan. It's not your fault. You should be free to do what you want. I should have found him earlier. It's _my_ job."

"So…you found him in the field?"

"No, not quite…" She stared at him. He sighed again. "He'd gotten up. I followed him to the forest. We…fought."

Another huge sigh. Luke looked quite upset, actually. She hadn't known him for long, but he just didn't seem like himself. The heat probably wasn't helping, either. Her stomach flipped, the gravity of the situation swallowing her.

After a few seconds of quiet, she stood. He looked up, wondering if she was leaving. But she actually went to him and before he really knew what she was doing, she awkwardly hugged him from where he was sitting.

"Thank you, Luke," she said after she pulled away. "Really. I hope you're OK. You went after that crazy bastard. You're a good general." She awkwardly went to sit down. Liam had sat up, still panting.

He smiled then, a genuine Luke smile.

"You know, I'm just about done here. I really _should_ get out of this heat." His smile brightened. "But, oh, how I love to torture myself."

Meghan laughed and bent down to pat Liam. His tail wagged.

"I should go find Zelda," Luke said. He stood, placing a paper in a drawer of the wooden desk. "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure, but where are you going to look?" Meghan stood, as did Liam. Was she going to see Luke's super awesome spy skillz in action?

"I don't know. The town, Kakariko, somewhere. Maybe she's even in the castle."

"OK."

"But she could be anywhere. I don't like when she doesn't tell me where she's going! I'm very good at finding people, you see. But one person repeatedly stumps me…and that one person is our dear Zelda."

* * *

Luke shook his head, frustrated. "Not one clue. Not one lead. This is ridiculous. When that girl wants to hide, she can _hide_." _That girl_, he thought to himself, laughing. _That girl. Sheik is a girl._

"Yeah…" Meghan said, standing beside him, unable to help.

"Any ideas, Miss Meghan?" he asked with a smile.

She look flabbergasted, taking a step back. "What, me? No, of course not!" She laughed. Was he making fun of her? _Obviously_ she had no ideas!

"I'm just making sure," he said innocently.

They were walking towards the exit when Meghan started thinking about Link. She wondered if he had gotten there yet.

"Hey Luke?" she started.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Link is there by now?"

"Maybe. It depends on how fast he traveled or how long he stopped last night."

"Oh."

"I'm sure he'll be there by the end of the day, though."

She remembered the letter teleporting apparatus. "Do you think he sent a letter?"

"Perhaps, if he's-"

"I want to go check. You keep looking for Zelda. I'll catch up with you later."

"I probably shouldn't leave you—"

"Luke, you can't watch me forever. I'm fine in the castle. I have Liam."

"OK…" He grinned. "Be careful," he said seriously. But then, "don't get run over by Liam."

"OK!" Meghan laughed. They went separate ways.

* * *

**Teeheee I love Luke and Meghan bonding moments.**

**JK, I just love Luke. :D **

**Thanks for reading! *love***


	33. Remix: Your Smell and My Short Shorts

Meghan slammed open the door to the room with the strange apparatus inside. And there it was, waiting for her. A piece of paper folded very neatly.

She hesitantly stuck her hand toward it, then pulled the note out. Liam barked at it.

"Shush, shush. It's only a piece of paper." She held it out for him to sniff. He growled. She sighed. "Friend, Liam." It must have smelled of Link, or Sierace. Or somebody…maybe she should have waited to tell him it was a friend. He sat back and panted.

She unfolded it, and smiled with relief when she saw some familiar handwriting, in English, thankfully.

"_Hello everybody, _

_I just arrived here, around 11:00. I just wanted to say that I am fine and everything is going well here. Sierace has been great so far and I'm already learning many new things. I want to tell you all in person._

_Meghan, I miss you so much. I hope you know that, and every second I'm thinking about you. I wish you were here with me. I'll be back before you know it, I promise. _

_Zelda and Luke, I hope you're doing well over there. I look forward to seeing you again soon. _

_I plan on leaving tomorrow in the early afternoon. I didn't sleep too much when I traveled here so it would take less time, so I'll be back on Saturday. I miss you all a lot, so I can't wait to be back._

_Write back when you have a chance. I want to know what's happening there._

_Link"_

Meghan held the letter close to her, then fingered the ink marks. She felt she had a part of him with her.

In the surprisingly cool room, she pulled a piece of paper from the desk against the wall, scribbling her letter back to him, Her handwriting was horrible compared to his, she thought.

"_Link,_

_Hi. I miss you so much too. So much has happened here in the little time you're been gone! I can't believe you've only been gone for like two days. It seems like it's been forever. I really miss you so much. _

_I hope you're OK there. Take your time, but hurry back, OK? It's kinda lonely without you._

_I got a dog while you were gone. How strange, right? I hope you like dogs, because he's a pretty big one! His name is Liam and he comes up to my waist! He's my watchdog. It's a long story about how I got him, though. Long story short, it was Luke's idea, and you know Luke is crazy._

_Meg."_

She read the note over, and then folded it. She threw it in the apparatus and stood back as it disappeared. She didn't think he would respond right away, or maybe not for a while. She sat back down on the chair, then turned and put her head on the desk. Liam panted beside her, but she really didn't pay any attention to him.

_Link was going to get mad when he finds out what happened to me. Maybe I should have kept Liam a secret until he comes, because I really don't want to explain over letters what happened. I need him to be here. But what am I going to do until Saturday?_

She heard a popping noise. There was a note! She ran over and took it out, greedily opening it. She saw his handwriting.

"_Meg,_

_I'm so glad you sent me a letter back. It feels like forever for me, too. I really want to be back there. _

_So what has happened? You said a lot. And the dog? That made me laugh. I should have expected something random like that from you, since I left you alone for so long. But why is he a watchdog? Do you feel unsafe? If so, you should tell Zelda or Luke. I don't want you to feel unsafe. I shouldn't have left you. I feel terrible._

_I love you._

_Link"_

She read it over twice. It was written now, on solid paper. Like a contract. It was no longer an abstract feeling between the two. _I love you._

She ran to the desk and scribbled a new letter.

"_Link,_

_IDK, stuff has happened. But Zelda and Luke know everything, they gave me the dog. And there are no problems anymore. Luke made sure of it. Liam is really very well trained. You should have seen him barking at Luke when he first saw him! It was very funny. And scary. I'm serious when I say he's huge._

_Anyway, I'll tell you everything when you get back._

_I'll always love you._

_Meg"_

It seemed like forever until the next letter came. She beginning to think he wouldn't send one. Maybe he went somewhere for a bit? He'd send one later.

Then it came. She sighed with relief.

"_Meghan. I feel like there's something you're not telling me. Please, if anything is wrong over there, I'll come home immediately. Just tell me anything, you know you can. I just have this feeling that something has happened. __Please__ tell me."_

She hesitated when she read the letter. She didn't want to tell him now, but…he would get crazy if she didn't tell him. She knew he was doing something important over wherever he was and she didn't want to interfere with his chance to learn valuable things. But she didn't want to lie to him, either. Maybe she'd just skip past it. Don't say it either way.

"_Link, there's nothing wrong at the moment, I promise! I'm pretty hungry so I'm going to eat, then I'm bringing Liam around Hyrule to meet people so he won't attack them. Isn't that funny? I love him already. Seriously, I hope you like him. Anyway, I hate to leave you, but I'm so hungry. I'll come back later tonight to write more, all right?_

_I love you sooo much more than words could ever say._

_Me."_

* * *

He read her words with fear. He could tell there was something wrong. He didn't know what to do. She had probably left the room.

He was in Sierace's cellar, where the same transporting device as in the castle was. Sierace had gone to the kitchen to cook, leaving him alone. He was panicking. He stood from her desk and paced about in the small, dark space, pulling off his hat and running his fingers through his hair.

He wrote another letter in urgent tones, trying to get her to explain to him why she was being so vague and to tell him what was going on. A watchdog? If Zelda and Luke gave him to her, she must have done it for a reason.

The idea of the attacks from the other day popped into his mind. What if there were more? It was certainly likely. He became extremely fearful, his stomach flipping. She must be OK, if she was sending him that letter, but what if she got injured? He couldn't stand the thought of it. He thought of so many things that could have gone wrong. She could have been writing with broken bones, or no bones! What if she was paralyzed? What if it wasn't even her writing the letters? No, that was stupid. It was her handwriting. But he had to admit, he might not have known her handwriting so well. They hadn't written to each other too much.

He grew so nervous, standing up from his chair again and putting his hands on his head. He was so stupid! He wasn't _there_ to protect her. It was his fault _entirely_ if anything happened. She would have been safer coming with him! This place wasn't bad one _bit_! And due to his stupidity, what if she had sustained a life-long injury? It would all be his fault! He could have stopped it!

He waited forever, growing more restless by the minute. He finally decided that she wasn't going to send anything back, so he ran back upstairs to find Sierace.

"Oh there you are!" She bent down to pull food out of the fire-heated oven. "You took a long time. I was beginning to think you got sucked into the transporter. Lunch is ready!" She snickered. But his expression was serious.

"I think something happened in Hyrule, to Meghan."

"Oh no!" She set down the food, her expression quickly turning worried. "I do hope nothing is wrong. Did you talk to her?"

Sierace had a soft voice that floated on the air, always like a murmur. Her face was soft, but her body was fit.

"Meghan sent me some letters. She didn't say anything exactly, but the way she said things…it made me wonder, and when I asked, she acted like nothing was wrong, then told me she had to leave."

"Well, I'm sure she would tell you if something happened, correct?"

"No," he said with worry, "She's the type who won't tell me _anything_ because she wouldn't want to worry me. But_ that's_ what worries me."

* * *

She hated doing that to him. Mostly because she really wanted to talk to him more. It was sorta like an AIM conversation. But she couldn't, because it would be too hard to ignore the subject. He wouldn't let it go.

She tossed the letter in and waited a few seconds, watching the blue part, but she knew she shouldn't stay. She should at least go so _something_ of truth was said to him. In fact, bringing Liam around wasn't a bad idea. So she would do that.

She called to him, and she left, closing the door behind her. The door slammed behind her, unexpectedly loud. She jumped.

"Liam, we should go see Galaxy," Meghan said in a quiet voice. She hoped Galaxy was all right. She felt so bad that she didn't go to see him, even after he was hurt. But she felt worried still. She had Liam, but somehow going back to that huge field where there was nowhere to hide was still frightening. She thought she should at least tell someone she was leaving (and she secretly hoped they'd offer to go with her, though Luke and Zelda were pretty busy, it seemed).

She found her way back to Luke's office, though she wasn't sure if he'd returned by then. She knocked, but there was no answer. She waited a second, trying to think of where else he could be. Maybe he found Zelda. Maybe he was talking to some guards in their headquarters? Maybe Zelda was around now. Throne room (it was like her office)? Her room?

"I don't know, Liam. Hyrule is too huge. Where the cell phones at?"

She sighed, thinking of her poor Galaxy. She really did want to go see him. She wandered down the hall where Luke's office was, and at some point came across the throne room. It was still empty.

She went to the front entrance of the castle, wondering if the guards knew where Luke could be found, or if she could at least leave her message with one of them. She shyly approached two guards who were talking to each other at the entrance of the castle.

"Um, 'scuse me?" she prodded quietly. Maybe it was the armor, but they didn't seem to hear or see her, standing beside them. They carried weapons, and Meghan had a thought, for a moment. What if not all the soldiers were good? Luke and Zelda put all their trust in the guards' loyalty, but how did they truly know these guards wouldn't betray them, as Shina did?

Despite that, she tried again, but she might have asked more quietly the second time. That was when Liam started barking, and they immediately stopped talking and looked at her. She desperately tried to quiet Liam, without actually telling him these were friends. Because she didn't actually know if they were. She just held onto his leash tightly while he growled.

"How can we help you?" one asked, slightly wary of Liam, but it seemed like he knew who she and Liam were.

She smiled and asked, "Um, well I was just wondering if you had, like, seen, or know where to find Luke? Er, General uh Luke uh Rinelo?" She didn't know what they called him.

The guard laughed good-naturedly at her uncertainty. "Well, _he_ was looking for Zelda. He passed by here several minutes ago, asked us if we'd seen her, then he kept looking."

"Sorry, we don't know," the other said.

"Oh, all right."

"Are you planning to leave the castle?" the guard asked with concern.

"Well, no, not without telling them."

"Let us know if you need someone to escort you, Meghan. That's our job," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. The other nodded to agree. "I'm Cavun."

"Armut," the other said.

Meghan smiled. "Nice to meet you. I really appreciate it. Um, but I think I'll stay at the castle for now, until I find them." And then, she acted as though she was fed up with Liam's behaviors. "Liam! Stop growling! These are _friends_, all right? _Friends_! No need to growl." She looked up and shook her head innocently as Liam calmed down. Sniffing.

"All right. Just be careful."

"Thank you so much for your help!"

She waved as she walked away, toward the entrance to the castle grounds. She passed a few people in the gardens, walked until she got to the guards at the front entrance. She asked them the same questions, but they also told her that Luke had gone into town to look for Zelda.

She sighed, staring down the walkway to the town. The Temple of Time loomed over the well-gardened hills, and she could have sworn she heard a sound like the commotion of a million conversations, echoing from the town. Then she heard a sound like bells rise above it all.

Oh wait. Those weren't bells. Those were Zelda's laughs.

Zelda and Luke soon came into view, walking side by side slowly, Zelda's arm linked with his. Meghan found a smile on her face, seeing the two. They were…rather cute together.

They saw her right away and smiled back. Meghan went to them.

"Hello!" they greeted.

"Hey!" she said.

"Looking for us?" Luke asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Meghan responded, and then she told them that she wanted to go visit Galaxy.

"Oh! I will go with you, if you would like! But first, I would love to show you something!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Oh, all right. What is it?"

Zelda turned, gently breaking free from Luke's arm to gesture back toward the town. "The market," she said, almost emotionally. The market? What was so special with the market? Zelda could see she was a bit confused. "The market. Come! Luke, shall we see you later?"

"Of course, girls!"

"Marvelous!" Zelda exchanged Luke's arm for Meghan's. "Please accompany me!" They said bye to Luke, and Zelda lead her into the town.

_The market?_ Meghan wondered again before she saw it.

Oh, the _market_.

It was unlike she'd ever seen in Hyrule before. Hundreds of people, literally hundreds! All around the square. Children, adults, animals. There were banners (written in Hylian) hung from the new buildings, and merchants gleefully shouted to passing people to buy their products.

It was amazing. But at the same time, it was terrifying.

Zelda knew how she'd be feeling. She kept herself close to Meghan, a deceivingly thin arm making a tight hold on Meghan's as she began to explain and pulled a slightly resisting Meghan closer to the hustle and bustle.

"Today is the grand opening of the new Hyrule Castle Town Market! So everyone is out to look around. This is where I was this morning and wouldn't tell Luke. I wanted him to be surprised by it as well. But he said you were writing to Link, so I didn't want to bother you."

"Wow, this is very cool. But isn't it Thursday?" she asked, wondering if these people and children should be at work/in school. It was only around one in the afternoon.

"Perhaps the children are having their lunch break here. Either way, it is a rather important day. Every time things like this happen, it becomes important for our economy. Buying and selling. It is the only way we will improve. My goal is to have our economy restored to its former glory by this time next year. Do you think we can do it?" Zelda asked with a smile.

"Zelda, I think anything can happen with you as princess."

Zelda laughed modestly. She'd had Meghan distracted, but now Meghan realized how they were in the thick of things, people surrounding them. She kept Liam close. He didn't bark or growl at any one person, but he looked alert in the crowd. Zelda explained more, with almost every other person greeting her as the two girls walked by.

"The market will, of course, be open every day, for the shops located here, but Thursdays are special. Every Thursday, merchants from around the country will set up their shops out here, in the center of things. It's wonderful for business."

"Is this how it was when you guys were little?" Meghan looked around nervously, again.

"Yes! I was not allowed to come very often, exactly because of crowds like this, but I remember being overjoyed at seeing this. The sounds, the smells…everything is here! Oh, look!" Zelda tugged at Meghan's arm, bringing to before a small stall near the middle of the square. "I love these!" There was an older man with an apron on selling little pastries, and Zelda pointed at some nut-covered rolls. "Two, please!" she asked, pulling rupees from the pocket of her pants.

"Sure, princess!" he said with a smile, placing two of the buns into a paper bag with metal tongs.

"How much is it?"

He smiled wider. "If you insist, they're a rupee a piece."

She handed over the money, and he placed the paper bag in her hands. She smiled widely, turning to Meghan (whose glance had strayed to look all around herself), and gleefully declared, "They're still warm! Thank you!"

She pulled Meghan away again, and held out the bag for Meghan to take one as they walked. Meghan did meekly, not sure what to expect, though whatever it was did look quite good. She took a bite, some of the nuts messily falling, but it was delicious! The nuts added a savory flavor to the freshly baked, fluffy bread underneath. She just wanted to scarf it all down at once, but she needed to savor it!

"Good, is it not?" Zelda asked. Meghan nodded, her mouth full but a smile on her face. Zelda was leading her between two buildings, where people were more tightly crammed together. Meghan saw that on either side of the wide alley, there were wooden stalls set up and covered in goods. After another nervous glance around, Zelda pulled her in close. Their steps became synchronized as they walked hip to hip.

"Meghan, what is your favorite thing in the world?" Then she laughed. "Well, in any world."

"Uh," Meghan started, trying to think. What an open-ended question! She could think of a lot of favorite things. "I like a lot of things. I dunno…do you mean, like, a hobby? Or an object or something?"

"Anything! What makes you happiest?"

Meghan stopped to think as Zelda pulled her into the area farther. But soon she stopped trying to think of what Zelda had asked, and instead began to think about Zelda.

Meghan loved Zelda. There was something about her that was so warm and welcoming. This past week, she'd been nothing but helpful and doting. Spoiling Meghan, really, like a mom or something. But she thought of the week before. Zelda had put Meghan at risk. She'd known there was a risk something bad could happen to Meghan. How much did Zelda really _like_ Meghan? She felt like Zelda was doing all these things because she was trying to make up for everything, last week before it happened, not now that it had not. Not because she actually enjoyed Meghan's company. The thought brought Meghan down, and she sighed internally.

"I guess music," she said.

"Music…" Zelda said thoughtfully. She glanced at Meghan as they walked. "Your song…from your party. It was beautiful," she said, not smiling. Serious.

"Oh…uh, thank you."

"You wrote that?"

Meghan shrugged modestly. "Uh, yeah, I did…"

Zelda was silent for a second, craning her neck around some people to look at some products on a table. "I wish I could do that."

And then it was weird. What she'd just said wasn't one of her overjoyed, overly positive sentences. Something about it was real. As though she _hadn't_ just been thinking that Zelda didn't really like her, she suddenly had the feeling that she did. And then she felt so conflicted. What was Zelda doing here with her? She had another thought—that Zelda only liked her or tolerated her or tried to be friends with her because of Link. Zelda definitely liked Link, at least.

Zelda went to the table, which had clothes on it. There were pretty shirts in pastels and shades of white. She picked up one pretty, silky shirt, holding it out to observe it, then pulled it into herself, and turned to Meghan, silently asking her opinion.

"Uh, it's pretty," Meghan said.

O gawd. She realized that they…might be shopping. Crap. She tried to hide the disdain she knew would come to her, but it didn't feel so strong at the minute. Here, maybe it wasn't so bad…?

Zelda laughed at her, then placed the shirt back. "Very pretty," she said to the seller. She took Meghan's arm again, and they walked.

"I always wanted to be musical," Zelda said, picking up their conversation from before. "I never had the talent for much more than the lyre, though."

It was bizarre thinking that Zelda might not be good at absolutely everything.

"I'm sure you're great at it," Meghan said, though she honestly didn't know. Zelda had such a lovely speaking voice. Surely she'd be great at singing?

"Unfortunately, I am not. Art and artistic creativity are not my strengths."

"But you're so good at everything else!"

Zelda smiled. "Perhaps I'm only capable of pretending so."

"Zelda, what did we talk about the other day?" Meghan asked sternly, as a joke.

Zelda looked to her and opened her mouth. She realized. "Oh! Dear Nayru, I had forgotten. I am sorry! Yes. I must be more conceited!"

"Good!"

And then the two laughed together. They spoke about a few things, glancing at the many shops, but Zelda seemed to be going toward something and didn't stop anywhere else for very long.

She finally reached one table, and Meghan had been explaining something so she didn't realize what it was at first. When Zelda pointed, she was surprised. A middle-aged man watched over the small stall, and he smiled when he saw Meghan's face light up.

"Music," Meghan said, looking at the collection of sheet music arranged carefully on the table.

"Yes," Zelda said.

Meghan reached out and picked up the first things she saw. She had no idea what it was, because the title was in Hylian, but she assumed it was for piano because of the two staves linked together.

"Ah, this is a classic Hylian piece. It is entitled 'Golden Sky,'" Zelda told her.

"Wow," Meghan said, trying to hear the piece in her head. Hylian musical notation was slightly different than she was used to. It only used four lines on a staff, and the lines represented a different note. But she was able to sight read by observing the upward and downward trends. "Unfortunately, I can't read this music so well."

"Oh?" Zelda asked, surprised, as she had been sure that Meghan could read music just fine.

"Hylian notation is different than what I'm used to," Meghan said. It even made her feel a bit uncomfortable, not being able to lithely read the music as she'd always been able to. Link had taught her what was what, but she couldn't just sight read through it without thinking hard. It would take practice.

"I heard you play at your party," the man said to her. Meghan looked up, feeling a little ashamed that she had no idea who he was or that he'd even been at the party. "I'm sure you can figure it out quickly," he said about his previous comment.

"I could help teach you," Zelda said before Meghan could respond. "I can't play the music well, but I know how to read it!"

"Oh…well, I guess I kinda know how to read it. I just need to practice a lot. Thanks though."

"Oh," Zelda said, seeming genuinely disappointed. "Well, I have faith in you!"

Meghan couldn't figure it out. She'd said she knew it because she didn't want Zelda to feel like she had to help. But _then_ it seemed like Zelda had really wanted to help. What was Zelda thinking? Meghan would give a lot to know.

"Well, I might have forgotten it actually. Link just told me what the notes were a few weeks ago. Are there pianos in the castle?"

"Oh! Yes, there are! Perhaps tomorrow, or the day after?" Zelda asked.

Meghan nodded eagerly. "Sure!"

Zelda helped Meghan pick out some music, occasionally humming a tune if she knew it, despite her self-proclaimed lack of musical talent. Meghan paid for the music, and the two made their way back.

The conversation on the way back was easier, and Meghan found herself acting correctly again. She felt like she didn't act like herself when Link wasn't around, and she did feel bad about that. But soon she was joking with Zelda, even saying things that she knew were weird. She felt calmer and more at ease even within the large crowd. Not scared.

Closer to where they'd entered the alley, Meghan noticed someone she recognized. There was a shop manned by an elderly lady, the same woman Link had bought Meghan's necklace from. That silly lady who had pretended she didn't speak English for Link. Meghan had the urge to go talk to her, show her that she was wearing and loving the necklace she'd made.

Meghan told Zelda about the lady, and Zelda steered the toward her. There were a few people looking at her wares, but as usual, the people turned to acknowledge Zelda. The old lady did too, but she also remembered Meghan.

"Hello," the old lady croaked, clearly staring down at Meghan's neck.

"Hello. I…just wanted to say that I love this necklace. It really is beautiful. Thank you."

She smiled warmly, but also with some kind of spunk. "That boy and I knew you wanted it." Meghan laughed nervously, but the lady continued. "Let me tell you something. If there is something you want within your grasp, take it and _run_ with it. This world is here for you to make of it what you will. Don't be shy."

Zelda smiled. But the old lady turned to her. "You too, princess," the old lady said, wiping the smile from Zelda's face and turning her expression into surprise. "This world really is yours. I know you are capable of taking it and turning it into something beautiful. Don't forget that."

And for a few seconds, the two girls just exchanged surprised glances with each other. Meghan knew the things the lady had told them. They weren't things that were difficult to figure out or particularly shocking, but hearing them from another person was like getting the breath knocked from their lungs. Hearing it spoken made it truer.

Zelda felt very young in that moment. She appreciated the women's wisdom, perhaps more than she would realize.

"Thank you," Zelda said emotively, smiling a very different smile. "Your words mean more to me than my own thoughts."

"My words are yours now," she said. Then she flicked her hands at them. "All right, now, run along. You're distracting my customers."

The girls laughed, linking arms again, and Zelda pulled Meghan away as they said farewell. They walked out of the crowded alley to the center square again.

"Shall we go to visit Galaxy now?" Zelda asked.

"Well, sure, but you don't have to go with me."

"Silly, I will go with you. It is as though you're trying to get rid of me!"

"No! Not at all!" Meghan said, frowning.

When they arrived at Lon Lon, Meghan ran directly to Galaxy's stall while Zelda went to see if she could find Malon. He stood there, eating hay. "Galaxy!" she called softly, but urgently. "Galaxy, I missed you."

He stared at her, stopping his chewing in the middle so a few pieces of hay stuck outside his mouth. He didn't blink.

"Galaxy, what's wrong?"

Galaxy turned away from her and snorted. He continued chewing.

"GalGal, I'm sorry. I know you got hurt, I'm sorry! If it weren't for me being stupid, you wouldn't have. I should have been ready for him; I should have helped you more. I shouldn't have left the castle. I'm so sorry." Galaxy still was turned away. "Galaxy, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead! You saved my life! So thank you. I love you, and I'm sorry! You are so important to me, I hate that you were hurt. Please, please forgive me." She had tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. What if Galaxy…never trusted her again?

Galaxy turned slightly, looking at her sideways.

"Galaxy, _please_. I was so scared…I wanted to come see you, but I couldn't. I was _so_ scared, and I couldn't. I thought the same thing could happen again…and I _wouldn't_ _even have you with me_. I'd be alone."

He turned to face her.

"Please, _please_ forgive me. I messed up, but I'm here now. I'll take care of you from here. Please, let me see your leg?"

Meghan slowly opened to door to the stall, stepping toward him. She reached out her arm to where his injury was. It seemed to have healed a lot, but there was still a scab. She smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're OK." He rubbed his cheek against her. She laughed. "Galaxy, you're the best horse ever. I love you. Thank you for my life." He whinnied. She rubbed him. "I brought you this!" She pulled out the apple Granice had given her for breakfast. Galaxy eyed it excitedly, and happily crunched on it.  
"Oh, Gal, I'd like you to meet my new friend."

Liam was waiting patiently outside the stall, and Galaxy hadn't noticed him before, but now he looked curiously at the huge dog. Liam sniffed at him, stretching his nose forward, but stayed seated. She guessed he wasn't trained to bark at other animals, which was good.

"Liam is just my new friend. He'll help protect us so you and I don't get hurt." Galaxy nickered. "Good boy!" She got Galaxy's grooming supplies and began to groom him. Liam lay watching from outside the open stall door.

"Galaxy, I talked to Link today, over some letters. I accidentally hinted at the fact that something happened to us, but I didn't want to tell him. At least over letters, anyway. I'm afraid that I worried him too much, you know? You know that he gets worried easily, and how he gets when he's like that…I hope that he won't go crazy over that. I can only imagine how he would act. I'm just thinking he'll get so angry when I _do_ tell him, I mean, obviously not at me, but in general. I don't want him to get mad."

Galaxy listened with wide, open eyes, while enjoying his grooming. Meghan finished up.

She put her hands on his cheeks and put her forehead to his. "Galaxy, I'll always love and protect you as best I can. Please do forgive me."

He snorted gently under her face. She smiled and moved away.

"Want to go outside? I don't want to ride you but you can go in the paddock or on the field if you want."

He nodded and she brought him out to the paddock, where some horses were. He didn't seem to be in pain, but she just wanted to make sure not to reopen the wound or something.

"Meghan! Hello!" she heard Malon say. Malon was waving from in front of her house, coming to Meghan with Zelda at her side.

"Hi, Malon!" Meghan called. She let go of Galaxy's lead rope to go to Malon. "Malon, thank you so much for taking care of Galaxy."

"Of course! Any time! I love Galaxy. He did give the castle's Head of Stables a hard time coming here, though. You know how he is. Oh, and I heard about what happened. How terrible! Are you all right?"

Liam started growling as she talked, but she didn't flinch.

"Oh, hello! You have a dog?" she said, and she didn't really seem too afraid of the aggressive Liam. She smiled kindly at him.

"Liam, This is my friend! Friend! Don't growl…" Liam backed off. "Sorry about that, he's my…guard dog now. Liam."

"No worries! He's cute. I hope you're all right now, though," she said as she crouched down, holding her hand out to Liam.

"I'm fine now. Thanks." Liam reached his nose forward to sniff her, and she gave him a few pats.

"I'm glad." Malon smiled. "It must have been a scary experience." Meghan grimaced. Malon looked concerned as she stood and put her hand on Meghan's arm. "Let's not worry about that now. What are your plans for the day? I wouldn't ride Galaxy just yet."

Meghan shook her head."Um, I was just putting Galaxy out in the paddock. I won't ride him."

"All right, need any help?"

"I'm fine, unless you want to come along."

Malon smiled and turned, and the three walked down to the paddock. Malon was so peaceful. Meghan wished she was closer friends with her. It would be nice to just come to Lon Lon and relax, maybe help Malon take care of the animals as they chatted. She let Galaxy free inside, and then walked back with Liam right at her side.

They said goodbye to Malon, and left to the field.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Zelda asked Meghan.

"I wanted to bring Liam around to meet people. What are _your_ plans?"

Zelda chuckled. "I have a meeting in half an hour. Once that is finished, I will go to check on the soldiers' headquarters. Various things."

"Oh, I guess you should go back then."

"Will you not come along?"

"I want to go to the forest," Meghan said. She wanted more peaceful, not cooped up in a stuffy castle outside-ness without having to worry. Zelda nodded and looked worried, but just told her to be careful and try to be back to the castle by dinner time so they would know nothing had happened to her. Meghan agreed, feeling like she had her parents around again. But it was fine with her. At the moment, she liked the feeling of them being worried about her.

So Meghan and Liam went to the Kokiri Forest. When they entered, Meghan expected Liam to begin to growl at the Kokiri, but he didn't. Two girls who were outside looked, in awe, at the huge dog, who was _huge_ compared to them.

The girls ran to pet him, and he panted at them and licked their hands. They giggled and asked Meghan about him. She didn't know why he didn't growl at them. Maybe it was because the Kokiri were part of the forest, and animals knew they weren't any harm. Or was it because they were children?

"He's soooo huge!" they laughed. One of them sat on him, but it didn't seem to bother him. Meghan laughed. She looked up, and saw Link's house across the clearing. Momentary sadness hit her, but she tried to think he'd be back soon.

"I'll be right back," she said, not knowing whether Liam would follow her or not. He didn't, but she didn't mind. She knew it was safe in the forest.

She went to his house. Everything was like he'd left it. The bed was not made, so she felt the urge to fix it. When that was finished, she sat in the corner on one of his tiny stools. Everything was miniature, like a play house, except the bed, which was large enough for him to fit in. She thought he might have changed out the old bed, because all the other Kokiri beds were tiny. She had barely fit into Saria's bed.

She'd never seriously looked at all the details of the little house before. There were so many things around the small space. Buckets, farming tools, and under his bed, all his weapons. There were so many! His bow and quiver were carefully placed side-by-side, but everything else was just a mass of his collected instruments. If all this didn't belong to Link, it definitely would have been a very horror movie-esque moment.

All that aside, though, there was one thing that made her want to linger forever.

It smelled like him. That smell. It was very much a forest-like smell, but it was unique. Sugar and trees, maybe. And just enough boy scent, a scent of skin maybe, so it didn't smell like she was inhaling a bottle of laundry detergent.

But she'd lingered far too long. Since staring at it wouldn't make him come back faster, she left. She saw from Link's balcony that Liam had attracted more Kokiri. He just sat and panted and drooled. They laughed merrily at him, with not a care in the world. Nothing affected them. Whatever went on outside the walls, they were still children who could play all day long. So would be their lives forever. Fairies flitted above their heads, joining in on the fun.

Later, after the hype had died down, Meghan and Liam left the Kokiri behind them. They still had the rest of today to kill, and tomorrow. Then Link would be back, and she wouldn't have to miss him anymore.

She ate with Luke that night, since Zelda was not around and they assumed she was still in her meetings. They got their food from the kitchen and brought it back to Luke's office. After dinner, they went their separate ways. Meghan took a book out of the library, a romance novel, and took it to read in her room.

She took a bath first, even though she didn't feel dirty in the slightest. She felt like, being Hylian, her hair would never become greasy, or she would never smell unpleasant, even if she waited weeks to bathe.

Not that she would do that.

The sweet aromas of the shampoos and soaps calmed her, like all her old favorite scents. Now she was certain she had a new favorite scent, but that scent didn't come in bottled form. She was glad for that, because she'd feel very angry if anyone else smelled like it. Like _him_.

She tried to imagine the smell from him and his house, but she was sure she was making it less glorious in her mind than what it was like for real. She started thinking about him, again, imagining him coming home early, tomorrow, or even right that moment.

Self-consciously, she made sure bubbles were covering her whole body in the bathtub. Though the door was closed and locked, and Liam sat right next to her tub, she couldn't help but imagining things.

Now her daydreams were way worse than when she'd been swimming in her undies in an inconspicuous fountain in the middle of nowhere. Though, she was sure, as comfortable as they were together, he'd probably be sent running away, blushing madly and apologizing profusely if he saw her in anything less than her pajamas, which weren't exactly revealing. They were white shorts and a white top, and her now seemingly long legs were clearly displayed. But that was pretty much it. She was sure if she was wearing anything less, he'd cry for forgiveness. Same deal for her, because seeing him with no shirt on, the night of her birthday, nearly gave her a nosebleed. Then she remembered she couldn't get a nosebleed, and neither could he, and that was probably a good thing.

She stretched her legs out, raising them above the water, wiggling her toes. In reality, they were no different than before, but were more proportionate in terms of muscle and fat, somehow, and she thought they looked longer. And they were totally smooooth. Ha. If Hyrule had done nothing else for her, it at least had stimulated her weight loss, which had not been healthy at first. She had barely eaten one straight meal a day the first two weeks or so. Even then, those meals had been Kokiri cuisine, which meant raw fruit, vegetables, and bread.

She was out of the bathtub then, wrapping a fuzzy bathrobe around herself. Liam stood up and followed her out of the bathroom.

She crossed to her bedroom and found her pajamas, clean again since this morning. She wanted to thank whoever cleaned up her room every day. It was really helpful, but some part of her wished she could do it herself. She wanted to feel like she was living in her own little apartment.

The white shorts came to just above her knees. She laughed. She'd always been self conscious and never wore shorter shorts, except maybe for sleeping. But now, when people probably wouldn't look at it as an everyday occurrence (in fact, most Hylian girls wore dresses in Hyrule) she actually _wanted_ to wear shorts. It was probably, she told herself, her innate aversion to the normal…or maybe she just had loads more self confidence at this point in time.

She wanted to change these shorts. She wanted to make them short, to show off her legs. Blush, won't he! Why not? Evil laughter.

She dug madly through all her drawers, still not knowing exactly what was where, or even what was in most of them. They were all very orderly, so many essential things thoughtfully packed in. Then she finally found what she wanted.

She pulled out sewing needles, thread, and scissors. She took off the shorts and laid them on her bed, turning them inside out and measuring along the bottom where she would hem them. She was sacrificing the lacey hem at the bottom, but she honestly thought it was more itchy than pretty.

A while later, when they were finally finished, she cut off the excess material and tried them on. They were much shorter, and that made Meghan happy. For some strange, inexplicable reason…

She took the short-sleeved top off. She searched the closet, but didn't find exactly what she wanted, so she checked back in her drawers and found what she wanted again. Near the underclothes, she found a camisole-like shirt. It was probably indecent to wear here, which is why it was found next to underclothes. That was wonderful! After all, it was a camisole and nothing was wrong with it to _her_.

It was fitting around her body when she tried it on. Together with the altered shorts and top, she felt very…attractive, for someone just about to go to sleep. She looked at herself in the long mirror near the door, turning to one side and then to the other.

She got her book, and then threw all her excess bed coverings on the floor. Maybe tomorrow she'd make the bed herself…

With a yawn, she sank back into her pillows and started to read. Liam jumped on the bed and lay next to her, sighing. She laughed, thinking that he was her surrogate Link. Not that anyone could take his place.

She wondered if he'd sent her a letter back in the transporting apparatus thing. He probably had, but she'd left in a hurry after her last note. She really wanted to go see. She wanted another piece of him, but she was growing tired. She got up and found the pants she was wearing that day because she'd left the notes her sent in her pocket. She took them out and brought them back to her bed. Liam sniffed them again. Meghan kept telling him "friend."

"_I don't want you to feel unsafe…I love you…I feel like there's something you're not telling me…"_

_Yeah, I'm not. Maybe I never should._

* * *

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Sierace. I'm so glad to have learned this much. I finally understand where I came from."

"I'm glad that I could help you," she said, her voice lost in thought a bit. They were sitting in her small house, at the dining room table. Sierace had found the very few items left behind by his mother, and they were carefully laid out before him.

Sierace had told him some things about his mother. She had loved the forest and always gone there, since she was a child, despite the myths that one would be lost forever there. She'd known since she was pregnant that Link would be connected to the princess somehow. She had been very shy, but she associated with the goddess Farore.

About his father, she knew less. He was a solid, serious man who loved his mother fiercely. He was the best swordsman in Hyrule, according to Sierace (who had learned this from her own father).

Sierace told Link that he accomplished everything his father had ever wanted to accomplish, and that his father had died protecting the family and the world. These details had brought tears to Link's eyes, as he felt both overwhelming pride and sadness. After years, _years_, of not knowing a single thing about them (but for the fact that his mother had died in the forest after bringing him there, to protect him), he finally knew. They had _lived_. And their end was sad, but Sierace didn't know the details, and Link didn't _want_ to know them.

But now, as Link looked at Sierace, he felt some wholeness. Her eyes looked back at him and he recognized them. They were his own. Their eyes were from both their mothers.

Their mothers had been _sisters_.

Link _still_ felt like he was in some shock. He had a _cousin_. He had a family. A tiny one now, true, but a _family_.

"I know I said I was leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I think I should leave earlier. Tomorrow morning. I'm really worried."

"I'll be sad to see you go, but I understand if something is happening in Hyrule and you must leave. We must keep in touch, though."

"Of course. I'm so glad that I have family to belong to. I mean, Meghan and I are like family now, I guess, but this is different."

"Yes, I feel the same! I really didn't know that you were alive for the longest time. When we learned of what you'd done, as hero, I still couldn't be sure it was you. I wanted it to be, though! And then you sent me a letter, and I _knew_. But next time you should bring Meghan. It's not that dangerous here."

"I regret not bringing her. I'm sure you'd get along well with her."

Sierace tilted her head, her blue eyes mischievous, like Link's sometimes got. "You're so in love!"

"Eh!" he cried, shocked that she would just say that, blushing instantly. Even though he'd only just met her, he could see the similarities between himself and Sierace. They had the same deep-blue eyes and a similar facial structure. Sierace, though, had darker, light brown hair. Link's light blond hair, Sierace said, was from his father's side.

But the physical similarities weren't the only ones. Sierace had the same mischievous side, the quiet, devious one. They both had a sensitive, sweet side. And they had the ability to prevail, to prosper even, despite a cruel destiny handed to them. It must have been written in their genes (as Meghan would say!). His true valor, limitless courage, and sense of duty were direct from his father, a knight of Hyrule.

"Well, I'm happy for you. Without her, you'd be lonely, and then you might have never found I exist, correct?"

"I suppose you're right." He was a bit distant then, though, because he started thinking about Meghan's vague messages. Something must have happened, he kept thinking.

"Well, I might have pulled up the courage to travel to Hyrule to meet you at some point." She put her hand on his. "But don't worry about her. I'm sure she's fine. You'll be back soon anyway."

"Yeah."

* * *

After Meghan had gotten dressed, she went to the kitchen for breakfast for herself and Liam. Granice handed them their food jovially, asking Meghan how she was and other small talk things. Back in their room, Meghan and Liam ate alone and pondered what they would do that day.

"I really don't feel like going to the library again. But there must be something else to do here, this is a castle after all. It's certifiably _huge_. Zelda wants to play music at some point, but I dunno when."

They set off to wander the halls, Meghan keeping Liam close. They found many doors, some open, and some closed. Meghan looked in the open ones. Empty rooms, offices, and such things. She didn't find a piano.

Somehow, they found the way back to the room where the transporter was. She decided to check for a note, but she didn't want to risk sending one or Link would probably have a heart attack.

There was indeed a note there, and Meghan greedily looked at it.

"_Meghan, now I know there is something wrong. Please, you must tell me what it is! I'm leaving earlier tomorrow than I said before. I need to know, you're being so vague. A watchdog? Nothing's wrong __at the moment__? Please don't leave. Talk to me. I'm very worried_."

Meghan bit her lip. Link knew something happened, of course. She was so stupid! Now he'd probably drive Sierace crazy with his worry. Or maybe he left that moment. But it was no use sending him a letter now. He'd probably left hours ago. She left the room, worrying herself about him. She tried to bury herself in the task of exploring the castle, but only ended up lost. She hadn't been paying attention to where she'd turned, and now they were in nowhere land. "Liam, this sucks. Can you sniff your way back? No, of course you can't." She sighed in frustration, stopping walking. Liam stopped and looked at her. "We'll just get more lost if we keep going."

Liam whined.

"What?"

He started walking.

"No, Liam, come!" But she followed him to where he was going. They walked far down the corridor, where Meghan was certain they hadn't been. "Liam, this isn't the right way!"

He stopped at a huge, metal door. Meghan looked through the bars near the top, and saw nothing but darkness. Liam sniffed the air, then started to growl. "What is that?" Meghan asked no one, even though she thought she knew…

"The dungeon. Please, don't go near there."

Meghan turned to see Zelda, a solemn look on her face. Liam sniffed her and stopped his growling.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. Liam led me here. I didn't know where he was going." She wondered why there were no guards around. Shouldn't they be guarding the dungeon? Maybe they were inside. This was so weird.

"Oh, it's all right, but just for your own sake. I wouldn't recommend it."

Meghan nodded.

"Come on, I have something for you to do." Zelda started walking away. Meghan ran to catch up with her.

"OK…" Was it the music thing?

"I think it's time you were a citizen of Hyrule." She turned to Meghan and smiled.

"What?" She was surprised. A citizen? Although she was _sure_ it didn't matter as much if she was an illegal alien in Hyrule as it did in America, she was surprised that she even could become a citizen.

"Well, there are a good amount of papers to fill out…but nothing drastic."

"I have nothing else to do, I guess."

Zelda was so surprising. She just appeared out of nowhere when you needed her, and told you the weirdest things. And when she wanted to, she could disappear off the face of…Hyrule.

They arrived at an office, near Luke's. Zelda knocked, and they were told to come in.

"Ah! Princess!" said an elderly man. Liam sniffed, but didn't bark. Perhaps they were too far away.

"Good morning! Meghan, this is Umom Borabul, the Foreign Relations Master."

"It is wonderful to meet you, Meghan! I hear you'll be applying for citizenship?"

"I guess I am. Nice to meet you too!"

"Here, I have all the papers right in this stack…" He looked about the neat piles of papers on the desk, leaning in close and adjusting his glasses, then spotted the ones he needed. "Here!" He gave them to Zelda.

"Thank you."

"Just return them at any time today. I'll be here most of the day."

"Thanks!" Meghan added. She and Zelda left.

"He has been working here since my father's youth. But unlike certain people…I trust him completely with the affairs of the country. He is the head of all foreign relations, as well as a coordinator between the races of Hyrule."

She followed Zelda and nodded. Liam plodded along beside her. Soon they were back at her room, and Zelda helped herself to Meghan's door. They walked in, and she handed Meghan the papers.

"Just fill these out, and I'll find you when you're done. We'll go to Barabul's office and finish the business. No hurry, by the way."

"OK…"

"Good! Then I will see you later."

She left the room. She turned the corner, and there Luke was, in the corridor. His face was disapproving.

"You can't keep her locked in her room forever," he said, hearing their conversation.

"It's just..." Zelda tried to say.

"She can take care of herself."

Zelda walked past him, responding, "But just…I found her standing outside the dungeon door. It scared me."

He walked to catch up. "Zelda, what's wrong? Is that it?"

"It's nothing."

"I'm worried about you. I think you need to relax more."

"If anything more happens to her, Link _will_ kill someone. I don't need that." She had arrived at her room, and opened the door. She wanted to take a nap, really. He followed her inside.

"Don't worry about him…" he said as he closed the door behind them.

"But…I feel horrible without him!" she said when she turned to him.

They both stopped walking. Luke's face was shocked. What did she mean? She couldn't live a few days without _Link_ around? What _Luke_ was to her, then?

"Luke, no, do not take that the wrong way. It has nothing to do with how I feel about him. We're just…bonded. It's the Triforce. I feel what he feels when he has strong feelings. But when he is so far away, I feel different. I have already felt as though I lack power, the power Triforce being gone, but now that Link so far, I feel like I'm lacking courage too. I can't do anything.

Luke had never known that before. The Triforce bonded them like that?

"It's strange. The way the lack of feeling manifests…like for me, I feel powerless ruling my country. I always feel like nothing I've done is right for the people." She turned and continued out to her balcony, and he still followed. The warm wind blew her hair as she put her hands on the railing, staring out into the gardens at the side of the castle.

It was making sense to Luke, all her self-confidence issues.

"Right now, I do not have the courage to face my enemies, and so the best way I can face them is to hide. Hide her, hide you."

But what about Link? He never seemed powerless.

Although neither of them knew it, he had. Link had grown rash in his worry for Meghan, and coupled with his lack of power against his love for her, gave up on finding himself to protect her. He'd left early that day, and all he could think of was returning to her, making her safe. It plagued him. He couldn't think of anything rational, anything wise.

"Zelda, I will help you get through this. I know I'm not goddess-chosen or magical like you guys are, all of you, but I will help you in any way I can. Zelda, I just want you to be happy."

"Luke, you are goddess-chosen. The goddesses gave you to me. No one can take your place."

He wrapped his arms around her, her head fitting neatly beneath his chin as she leaned against his chest. "You know…I love you. I always have. My silly Sheik."

Though it was the first time he'd really said the words aloud, it was not a surprise to either of them. It was not difficult for him to say it was true, and it was not terrifying for Zelda to utter her easy reply. The only reply. He was smiling, though she couldn't see. It was like they'd said it a million times. It wasn't even necessary.

"I love you, too."

* * *

Meghan flopped the papers down on the desk. It wasn't a huge stack, but not a small one either.

She took a quill, and began to fill it out.

"**Name**: Meghan S. Black

**Birthdate**: 4-29-1991

**Current age**: 16

**Country of Origin**: ("_America?" she said sarcastically out loud._) United States of America

**Date of Emigration to Hyrule**: 3-28-07 ("_Hardly emigration…"_)

**Current residence**: Castle _("…? Do I even have an address, Liam_?")

**Family Currently Living in Hyrule**: None ("_Unless Link counts? Haha, that's being way too bold."_)

**Immediate Family in Home Country**: ("_Why does this even matter?")_

**Mother**: Anna Black **Address: **New York**, **United States of America

**Father**: Raymond Black **Address**: Same

**Siblings**: None

**Reason for Emigration**: ("_This is funny, Liam. Well once upon a time there were some gods who decided to be mean to each other_…")

There is no real reason.

**Reason for Residence in Hyrule**** (i.e. Job, family**…): I came here a few weeks ago and met a lot of people here, so I figured I should stay here and live here since everyone I know is here. I have nowhere else to go.

Etc…etc…

**Please sign the declaration below:**

**I hereby confirm that I have come to live in this country of Hyrule with no intentions of crime, I intend to live peacefully for as long as I'm here, and I have provided no purposefully erroneous knowledge. **("_Well technically I came here to wreak havoc as a human destructo-girl. But I'm sure you'll let that slide, right?"_)

_**Meghan S Black**__  
_

"Well, finally, that's done," Meghan whined. "I hope there's no ceremony like they have in the US for new citizens." If there was, she definitely wanted to wait until Link returned. Which was tomorrow, she remembered excitedly.

She stood and took the papers with her to the door. She probably should have been more excited, more honored to be gaining citizenship, but she wasn't. It was another one of those things that made her feel like she was losing who she was. Soon, nothing about her would be earthling Meghan. Like some force was trying to erase her past. She was nearly halfway down the hallway when she heard what she thought was Zelda's door closing, and Zelda appeared around the corner, a too-huge smile on her lips.

"Finished already? All right, let us go to bring those back. Mr. Borabul will need to just look over the papers, but I doubt he will see anything at all wrong with them. You will be a citizen in no time!"

"Can we wait until Link is back, though, for me to be? I'd like him to be here, I guess." _Hip-hip hoor—eeehhh…_

"Of course. Link. I'm also eager for his return. I wonder how he's doing?"

"Oh, right, did I tell you about his last message? He's coming home earlier."

Zelda looked at her, her smile mostly faded. "Really?"

"Yeah…he said he's coming home tomorrow. He left this morning."

"Early!"

"Yeah. He says things went well."

"Good, good."

Meghan looked at her and took a deep breath. "Zelda, you seem kinda out of it."

"Do I?" Zelda stopped walking. She made a face. "I promise, I'm just lost in thought!" She smiled. "I'm being conceited now, in my head."

Meghan chuckled. "What are you thinking about?"

She started walking. "Just seeing you near the dungeon before…it scared me. I don't want those men anywhere _near_ you."

"I know you're doing everything you can, so don't worry about me and the others. You're a super hero! No one's suffering like they were before. You can see it. You can just watch people. They changed really quickly after the whole mess."

Zelda looked at her, appreciation and understanding in her eyes. "Thank you, Meghan." She stared, then shook her head. Meghan smiled. "You're a good friend."

_Friend_.

"And you're a good princess."

"Oh, Meghan. Everything here, we can handle it. You and me, all right?" A truly genuine smile was on her face, and Zelda hugged her tightly. Meghan returned it.

"Do you want to—" they both started at the same time while in the embrace. They pulled away and laughed at each other. "What were you—" they tried again. Then they nearly died of laughter.

It was concluded that they both wanted to go play some music.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. :)**

**Quick note on names: The names of Cavun and Armut are Turkish words for "melon" and "pear," respectively (though it's actually spelled kavun, but I thought Cavun looked more name-ish). Dunno why, but Turkish fruit and vegetable names are really pretty and/or cool sounding. Sheftali is Turkish for peach, and a character briefly mentioned in Luke's backstory (who will be more important in the third story) is named Elma, which mean apple. :)**

***love you***


	34. Remix: Son: Bana Geri Döndün

She'd had a hard time sleeping that night (as per usual) and she woke up very early. Liam stirred next to her, yawning. She looked at the clock. It was 7:54, but she didn't feel tired or like going back to sleep. She could only think of Link. He was returning today. She felt giddy and anxious as she got out of bed. She paced across the room a few times, trying to shut off the spaz attacks. Finally she got enough sanity to get dressed. She put on black pants and a blue short-sleeved shirt. She combed her hair carefully, making sure it looked nice.

She didn't know why she was preening herself, though. It'd probably be hours before Link even came. She didn't even have any idea when he'd be here. She went into the living room, Liam following, and sat on the couch, her leg bouncing impatiently.

"Liam, I can't wait that long…" She bit her lip in impatience. "Ew. What should I do? I need something to pass the time…it's only 8 o' clock!"

She bounced over to the door, opening it in a swift movement, and bounded down the hall. She ran fast down the hall, burning her energy away. The feeling of impatience was growing in her. Liam galloped along at her side.

She passed few guards on her way out, but once she was out, she didn't stop. She was breathing hard, but she didn't stop yet. She got to the town, but her energy still needed burning. She soon reached the field, when she finally began to slow from tire and lack of air.

Liam was behind her, so she crouched down to his height and clapped her hands in encouragement. "Come on, Liam-boy!"

Liam ran into her arms, licking her. "Ew! OK, OK!" She laughed.

They ran deeper into the field, where she hadn't been in a while, since Link left. Patches of wildflowers grew there, and Liam ran through them and playfully attacked them. Meghan laughed more, and sat down near a patch. She carefully pulled the delicate white blooms into a bouquet, serendipitously finding a green rupee in the process. She laughed at the strange chance, figured no one would claim it, and stuck it in her pocket.

She had a giant bunch of flowers, which she held close to herself as she and Liam walked down the field. For some reason, she wasn't scared like she probably should have been. It felt normal to walk along the field and not suspect something to pop up around a tree and harm her.

She'd gotten only about twenty feet when her giddiness returned. She started spinning, flowers fanning out around her as she did. Liam caught a few flowers in his mouth. She and Liam made their way to Lon Lon, where Galaxy was finally declared well enough to ride.

Meghan saddled him up, and took him out through the field. But soon her stomach started to grumble, telling her she needed food. She sighed and brought Galaxy near the drawbridge, and left to the castle to get breakfast.

In the kitchen, she looked at the clock. It was already 10:00! Granice gave her and Liam food, and Meghan ran off to her room to devour it.

After giving Liam fresh water, she sat at the couch with her plate. She thought to herself that this would be the very last lonely meal she'd eat in a _very_ long time.

She wasn't going to let Link get away from her this long ever again.

**Later…**

She began day dreaming about him yet again, and was overjoyed at the fact that their confabulations would continue in only a few hours. Hopefully.

She was surprised when there was a knock at the door.

"Meghan, it's me!" Zelda called. Zelda opened the door just as Meghan got up. There was a huge smile on Zelda's face.

"Look, Meghan!"

She held out the back of her bare right hand. Meghan moved closer, and noticed what Zelda was showing her.

"He's close!" Meghan exclaimed with glee.

"Very close. He will be here soon. He'll be in Hyrule Field in but a few minutes."

"The field?" How did she know?

Zelda shrugged. "He found a different route, I suppose! But it shouldn't be long before he arrives."

"Are you sure?" It seemed surreal now, that he'd be so close.

"Yes, let's go meet him!"

Meghan was a little disappointed. She wished she could have the first few moments of reunion with him alone, uninterrupted. But she couldn't say no to Zelda. She continued smiling (having Link with others around was better than _no_ Link, anyway) and put on her shoes quickly, Liam following anxiously beside her.

They hastily found their way to the town again, chattering pleasantly. Zelda suddenly stopped near the drawbridge, smiling.

"You should go," she said. Meghan looked at Liam. "I will wait here and watch after him." Zelda took his collar so he wouldn't follow. With Link so near, Meghan felt fine without him.

Meghan ran again, breezing through the grass, and she made her way to their stone wall, where she could see most of the field. She looked to the direction of Gerudo Valley. A slight breeze blew her hair around. She pushed it behind her ears so it wasn't in her face. Ah, these ears were beginning to have their advantages. She closed her eyes for a moment, lost in her day dreams, almost forgetting about the real thing.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her waist solidly. She yelped, though she soon found she knew who it was…

She felt his lips on her hair, giving her a small kiss before allowing her to turn.

"You're finally back!" she cried, the largest smile on her face.

Link smiled and nodded, holding her hands. Ah, too much emotion. He couldn't speak, seeing her again after all he learned. And after being so worried, but right now she looked fine and that was all he cared about.

"I missed you so much…" she sighed, almost choking on her words.

"I did too. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, smiling.

Meghan skipped forward and hugged him, taking comfort in his embrace. She felt completely safe, finally. No one could hurt her…she was absolutely safe. She felt warmth, love, and every other feeling imaginable. _Bliss_.

Navi popped up beside Link, hovering near Meghan's face.

"Hi, Navi!"

"Hi Meghan! How are you?"

"Not bad!"

Navi smiled.

"So what did she say?" Meghan asked, pulling back, but holding his hands. His smile faded. "Was it…bad, Link?"

He shook his head. "Well…OK, you'll be surprised, but Sierace is my cousin." Meghan _was_ surprised. Link had _family_! This was amazing! "She told me a lot of things I didn't know, about the family, about our history, and my parents…"

"What did she say about your parents?" Was there a name for his mother? Her grave could finally have a name.

"Well, she told me a lot about my mom. Her mother and my mother were sisters. Sierace is six years older than I am…she remembered my mother a little bit, but mostly remembered the things that her own mother said about her. And she told me her name."

Meghan smiled. "What is it?"

"Kalena."

What a beautiful name! "Do you know your last name?" She looked with curious eyes at his beautiful face.

"Yeah, I do."

"OK, what is it?"

"Well, I guess this is destiny," he said while smiling and watching Navi flit everywhere, excited about this secret. "I like my name. Link _Navi_. It's such an odd coincidence. Very surprising. Or maybe it was purposeful, somehow."

"Wow, that's amazing!" She quickly paired her on name with his, not really thinking. _Meghan Navi_. It sort of rolled off the tongue. "I'm so happy for you."

"I learned lots of other things."

"Such as?" she asked softly, interlocking her fingers with his.

"Well, I learned what my mother was like. Sierace had a few things of hers that her mother had. I learned everyone's birthdays…"

"When's yours?' Meghan asked, smiling. Oh! He was going to get it for giving her all those presents…

"November 13th."

"You do look like a November-y type."

He laughed. "I learned about my father, too."

"What was he like?"

He swung their hands back and forth. "His name was Aleron. He was a knight, I believe, during the Great War, but he didn't work for the king. But he died when he was fighting. Protecting…protecting us. Sierace said that he was known for his skill with the sword."

"Must run in the family!"

"I suppose so…" he said modestly. He, however, felt proud to be descended from a great swordsman.

"They'd be so proud of their son," she touched his flawless face, "the Hero of Time!"

"I guess…" He tried to hide a smile as he looked down and blushed slightly.

"Aw, you're so modest!" She felt her love for him swell. He was here and being a perfect person again! She couldn't get enough of him. He lifted his face. He stared deeply into her eyes. Then his smile grew.

She was surprised when he picked her up, one arm under her knees and one under her back. "But I'm back now and that's all that matters at the moment."

"I'm so glad you're here…" she whispered. He spun her around and she tilted her head back and laughed as the wind blew her hair. He stopped and looked at her again, loving everything about her. She looked into his beautiful eyes, her endless ocean returned to her.

She put her arms around his neck and lifted her face to his. "Please don't leave me again…don't make me wait again…" she whispered.

"Never again," he spoke softly into her ear. His words echoed in her mind and she knew she'd always be with him, forever and always, and she'd always be safe…

She brought her face into alignment with his, and let her lips meet his lightly.

No more waiting.

* * *

**Silly Credits Time: **

Link Aleron Navi – Anthony Beaston

Meghan Black – Young Amy Lee? The world may never know~

Zelda Azalea Hyrule – Taylor Swift (loooolz I know)

Luke Rinelo Hyrule – Ewan McGreggor. PERFECT.

Navi – a Light Bulb

Liam – POOCHIE

Sierace Quinoa – Melanie Laurent

Sheftali Peech – Not sure yet

Dia Peech – Claire Geare

Devan Peech –Gulliver McGrath

Epona Navi—Epona

Galaxy—Galaxy

**Also Featuring (In Approximate Order of Appearance):**

Gannondork—Gannondorf

Nayru, Farore, and Din—Themselves

Kokiri Twins—Kokiri Twins

The Kokiri—Themselves

Saria, Sage of Forest—Saria

Gordley the Goron—Gordley

God—A figment of everyone's imagination

Princess Ruto of the Zoras, Sage of Water—Princess Ruto

Impa of the Shiekah, Sage of Shadows—Impa

Rauru, Sage of Light—Rauru

Malon—Malon

Lady with food, Dog Trainer, Kakariko resident—Richard's owner

Great Deku Sprout—Great Deku Sprout

Great Deku Tree-A tree (poor thing)

Great Fairy of the Desert—Great Fairy of Wisdom

Nabooru of the Gerudo, Sage of Spirit—Nabooru

Koume and Kotake—Themselves

Narma—The first guard you see when you wall into the fortress

Kiku—Guard near the prison

Shada—Guard near the top there

Tamay—Guard on the gate

Carpenters—Ichiro, Sabooru, Shiro, Jiro, and the Chief

Seamstresses—Residents of Hyrule Castle Town

Goron Link—Link, son of Darunia

Evil Ex-General Shina—ew

Damn Birds—Stupid Birds

Mr. Ingo—Mr. Ingo

Lady at the Jewelry Shop in the Bazaar—The Owner of that Place

Zora Shopkeeper—Garbanzo

Kazana—Kalena

Mayano—My brother's friend

Lima—Alicia

Owner of the Fishing Place—Himself

Shina's Followers—Disgusting old ews

Ew Assassin Rilba who probably couldn't even shoot a bow-Rilba

Mother in the Prophecy—Aberrant Bliss' Mommy! (lol)

Granice the Cook—Aberrant Bliss's grandmother

Cavun  
Armut  
Masri Rinelo  
Edmund Rinelo  
Umom Borabul

**Special thanks:**

Reviewers! New and old. You guys are amazing. Especially those of you who have read both versions. :3 That is amazing. You are amazing. You make my life. I don't exaggerate. And you're the ones who inspired me to continue this *_cough_whosahassa_cough_* so I owe everything to you guys.

Thank you, parentals. You gave me the world. I'm trying to make the best of it. And thank you, daddy, for listening to my crazy ideas. XD

Thank you to my lovely friendses Laila, Tony, and not really Simon because he's a buttface, but OK. Oh and Pungo.

AND MUSICIANS THESE STORIES WOULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT MUSIC.

* * *

**Epilogue next!**

**The new information about Link's parents was taken from my back story about them. Whenever it's finished, I'll post it to the end of this story (but dunno when that'll be). :3**

**Thanks for reading. I love you so much.**


	35. Remix: Epilogue

l

**Epilogue**

Zelda, Meghan, Link, Luke, and Liam all sat in the dining room, after enjoying a nice meal. Meghan was attached to Link. They'd held hands the whole dinner, an easy task for them because Meghan was right-handed and Link was a lefty. Link had told them all about everything he'd talked to Sierace about, and Zelda's obvious surprise at the fact that he and Sierace were so closely related was funny to everyone.

Luke noticed Zelda's spirit lightened. She had her charisma back. She was smiling and laughing the way he knew she should, and it comforted him a great deal. Having all three of them there was even comforting. They were like a family.

After one particularly gleeful comment about the drooling Liam, Link looked back to Meghan's face, his eyes dancing and a wide smile on his face. He tilted his head ever so slightly, observing her. She stared back, making a face at his scrutinizing look.

"What?" she joked, though she was happy that he was there, staring. It felt normal, after so many days apart. Staring was cool.

"I just thought…" He let go of her hand and touched her face. Meghan grew hot from embarrassment; she thought he was being affectionate in front of Luke and Zelda. His fingers traced below her eye in a horizontal line, and his face turned not upset, but questioning. "You do have a cut on your face."

"Oh…"

She started to panic. She knew he'd have to find out sooner or later, but why sooner? They were so happy. She _knew_ he'd get so angry as soon as someone told him what'd happen to her.

"What's it from?" he asked, still not upset. He thought of the time she'd run into a tree, and wondered if it was something of the sort. Or did this have to do with whatever thing that had happened that she'd hinted at? She certainly didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. She saw Zelda and Luke looking on from the corner of her eye, ready to intervene if necessary.

His observant eyes quickly looked down her body, landing on her arm, where the larger, more visible cut was. It was nearly the same color as her skin, but presented itself as a dent in her flesh.

"Another one."

"Oh…" she said, thinking quickly of what to say.

"Where are they from?" Maybe one cut he'd believe was an accident, but two totally different ones would be hard to make a story that would fit each. "Your notes…something happened, I know it did. The reason for Liam. You wouldn't have him for no reason at all." He turned to look at Luke and Zelda, their faces calm, about to talk. But Meghan did first.

"Something did happen," she nearly whispered. "But I'm fine, except scratches. But everything's fine now. He's gone."

"Who?" Link demanded, anger and confusion growing. "Please, tell me what happened. Was it Shina?" _Why did I leave you?_

Meghan shook her head, knowing he was getting angry, so she didn't want to continue. Luke took over.

"Another follower. But he's taken care of now. He's not a problem. They're gone, Link. He was the last one."

Link stood up in anger. "Why wouldn't you tell me? What do you mean the last one? How can you know that?" he said. He felt utterly left out, like they felt he couldn't trust him, or thought he was too volatile to tell. But how could he help getting so worried?

Meghan stood too. "I didn't want you to worry! I really couldn't tell you, I didn't want you to come home early because you were doing something so important. And I hate when you get angry because you're worried!"

"Just tell me what happened," he said quietly, his voice like a groan. _Luke said he'd protect her…_

"I…OK." She waited a second, composing herself. "I was in the field, and it started to rain so I had to get off Galaxy…and he came over to me, but I didn't know he was bad because he acted nice at first. But he wouldn't let me get on Galaxy. He attacked me."

Zelda and Luke were completely silent, not expecting her to tell the story in such detail, detail _they_ had barely even heard.

She stared off to the side. "He…knocked me down…" she tried to continue, but there was a lump in her throat.

Link gravitated to her and protectively held her tight to himself, listening to her story with quelled anger, since he knew he couldn't do _anything_ about it. He hadn't been there to protect her.

"He had a sword, and I had nothing. I…it was my fault entirely. They told me not to leave the castle. And it was a short trip so I didn't think anything bad could happen. Galaxy tried to help me…and then I did the only thing I could."

"That magic," they said at the exact same moment. Link briefly wondered if the attacker had died from it, but he couldn't imagine she could be that powerful.

"Anyway, Galaxy brought me back here, and I'm OK now. I promise."

"OK…if you're OK…you're sure? You're fine?" He was looking her over again.

"Perfect…I promise. Scratches."

"OK. OK." He sighed, pulling her in again. "_I'm never, ever leaving you again_," he whispered to her.

"Yeah, please don't…"

* * *

That night, Meghan and Link were in her living room. She leaned up against Link, half in his lap, her face buried in his chest, her legs curled up on the couch beside him. His arms were around her back, holding her to him. One hand rubbed her back methodically, and his voice rumbled and vibrated as he assured her verbally that he was watching over her, lulling her into a relaxation beyond any she'd experienced in _days_. She felt safe, safer than she ever remembered, before he left. Her eyes were drooping, and although it wasn't late, the bad lack of sleep from the previous nights were taking a toll on her. Her breathing became slower, deeper, and she was forgetting where she was…dreams licked at her mind.

"Hey…" he said quietly, the sound humming in his chest. "You're tired. Go put your night clothes on and go to bed."

"Mmm…only if you'll be there…"

"Of course."

"Mmkay…" she murmured, not at _all_ wanting to get up, but he helped her to her feet. She stumbled to her room, yawning, her eyes half opened, her head buzzing. She pulled her pajamas out in her catatonic state, not even remembering her alterations. The new and improved pajamas seemed so familiar to her that she completely forgot about her scheme.

While she changed, Link told Liam to lay on the couch. Liam listened, sighing and closing his eyes as Link pet him a few times. Link looked at him with certain affection. He had a feeling he'd like this dog.

After getting changed, she opened the door to let Link in, her eyes half opened.

He walked forward, her predictions correct. He was unsure whether in her half-asleep state, she'd pulled the wrong clothes, or if she'd intended to where what she was wearing. He certainly had never seen her wear these. He didn't want to embarrass her, though, so his hesitation was only momentary as he met her in the bedroom in his own makeshift pajamas.

She looked up to his face, somehow registering the red on his face. "What's wrong?" she sighed, sitting on the bed, falling back. Maybe her face was turning red too, but maybe she was too exhausted to react to the god-like specimen before her

"Um…nothing." His forehead creased, as he looked her. She hadn't even pulled the extra coverings from the bed as usual, and she was currently stretched out on a sea of fluff. "Hey, love, just stand for one second…" he murmured. She groggily refused, confused for a second. He went to her and helped her, then pulled the covers, and tons of pillows onto the floor, into a much neater pile than she usually managed. She fell right back onto the edge of the bed, curled into a ball at the end, her legs right up to her chin. He went to her and scooped her up, repositioning her in a normal spot, then he lay down next to her, facing her. She smiled with droopy eyes, and he smiled back.

"What's with the color?" she asked again, in regards to his reddened face, which was starting to clear.

"Oh…nothing." _Don't_ _embarrass her…stop turning red…don't think about it…_

"No, really!"

"Um…well, I'm sorry, but I guess you're so tired you put the wrong clothes on. What are you wearing?"

"My pajamas?" Something…she remembered something…this was supposed to happen. She smiled.

"I've never seen you wear anything like…that before."

"Is that bad?" She remembered now, her lips curling though her eyes were now closed.

"No…I don't mean it like that…"

"What do you mean, then?"

"It's…" he struggled to find decent words, only blushing more in the process. He was glad her eyes were now closed, and she wasn't close enough to feel him heating up. "Revealing?"

She laughed weakly. "So you don't like me revealing myself? Is it wrong to show skin? I'm being entirely decent. There's no one here but you, anyway."

"No, no, not at all, I didn't mean it like that…I mean, wear whatever you want…it's just weird to me. Is this another Earthly fashion?"

"Of course, silly. I like to be comfortable when I sleep. It's too hot for longer pants."

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with it, really…" Now technically. Really. Why should he object?

"Anyway, I'm not actually revealing anything, though, am I?" Now she was teasing him on purpose and she opened her eyes. His face turned darker yet. She laughed again. "You're so predictable…"

"You did this on purpose?"

"No! I actually wanted to be more comfortable. But I did want to see what you'd do. You probably thought I'd forgotten to finish getting dressed."

"Um…yeah, sorta."

"Silly." She closed her eyes and snuggled closer. He squirmed a bit, embarrassed that he was blushing so much. He thought she should be too, but she was still too tired. Almost hesitant at first, he put her arm around her back. Soon, though, he felt like he belonged again, and he knew it was still the same girl, it didn't matter what she wore, she was his.

"_You're beautiful,_" he whispered. She smiled, knowing that in his embrace was the strength to do anything. In his words was the encouragement to go on. In his soul's presence, her soul's will to live happily, even away from home, even during struggles, even while fighting sorrow.

For all eternity.

* * *

**The end! :D**

**Dear readers,  
****I love you!  
****  
The rewrite is finished! Officially! Such a bittersweet time, yes?**

**One thing. I hatehate asking for reviews. I love just randomly receiving reviews out of nowhere (though they are few and far between XD) and would rather those than begged-for reviews, but I was wondering if you could just let me know if you finished reading the story? You could just send me like, "_I READ ALL OF IT"_ and that would be _beyond_ perfect. Of course, I love criticism so that's cool too if you wanna dish that out… :D**

**And finally, if you're interested, the sequel has been posted in its entirety! It's called _Look What She's Done_ and it's on my page. Here's the summary:**

_It has been a year since the hero saved Hyrule, and all seems well for its inhabitants. However, the peace cannot last and signs that evil is once again brewing turn up. As a new adventure begins, relationships and friendships are tested while plots for revenge are carried out, leaving the saviors of Hyrule in unfamiliar territory. How long can they fight when life has turned against them? How long can a boy's heart endure the trials in his life, the destiny placed upon him, and the things she's done to him?_

**So, thank you very much again! I love you. I really do. Thank you. Always remember to smile. :)**


	36. COLD

**Hello! I actually recently rewrote this story in Summer 2011 so I would love to start posting the rewritten version as an extension to this. I would love it if you could begin reading this chapter 37 if you have not read before something. I don't actually recommend reading this story at all, but you're welcome to if you're interested! I began writing this when I was 13 in 2004 and that is obvious in my writing. Still, there were many mistakes/stupid things that I really believed needed to be fixed, so I made a slight remix. It is the same story, but with (hopefully) better proofreading, better continuity, and maybe a bit more believability. But it's still no where near good. XD**

**Anyway, welcome to my magnum opus.**

**And She Waited**

Cold, it's so cold…

Where is he?

He can't be gone…

He'll come…

MEANWHILE…

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK

The rhythmic beating of Epona's hooves on the ground made him tired…

But he had to go…

Save her.

Save them.

MEANWHILE…

"Go away!"

"Mwahahaha!"

"No! He'll come, I just know it…"

"This is your end, little …"

"Stay away, Gannondorf! He'll kill you when he comes, he'll kill you…"

"Do you seriously think that little knife of yours can help you? You'll meet your end, here and now!"

"No! No…" but she collapsed, put to sleep by some magic spell,

"Meghan!" an older 's voice sounded, but she hit the ground.

MEANWHILE…

"Yah! Go faster, Epona, this is important!" he was half crying, how could he be so careless? Why had he let her go alone? Why hadn't he paid more attention to what she had said?

FLASHBACK…

"Zelda is in trouble, and I'm not going to stand here and wait!"

"Meghan, we need to get the supplies before we can just barge in and fight him!"

"I'm going, whether you come or not!" and with that, Meghan played the Prelude of Light and warped to the Temple of Time, taking his ocarina with her.

"She won't actually go, will she? Oh no!" Link mounted Epona and rode as fast as possible…

"She only has the Kokiri Sword and a Deku shield, how far did she think she could get?" And she had taken his ocarina, but why. "Meghan, you'd better be alright, that's all I can say."

END FLASHBACK

"Come on Epona!" they were nearing the collapsed bridge leading to the abandoned Hyrule Castle Town. He dismounted and ran top speed to Gannondorf's castle. But there were yet more obstacles to come.

MEANWHILE…

"How should I dispose of you?" Gannondorf said, pacing in front of the semi-conscious Meghan.

"Gannondorf, I swear if you touch her I'll…I'll… _kill_ you…" Zelda said, still trapped in her pink gem-shaped bubble.

Meghan was in some sort of semi-conscious state, still hearing what was going on outside. She remembered what just happened…

FLASHBACK

Meghan ran out of the Temple of Time and into Gannondorf's castle. The sages had made a bridge for them when they had been there before…

Inside Meghan was not aware that the barrier that would have kept Link out of the tower was down, especially for her. It was like Gannondorf was inviting her in…

Up the stairs she went, which were free of the monsters that would have clouded Link and all the doors were unlocked.

She got to a final door, and heard organ musi , il it stopped abruptly a soon as she went to open the door. She opened it…

"Hello, little ." Meghan froze in horror, thoughts racing through her mind…why didn't I have my sword out? Why was that so easy? WHY DIDN'T I WAIT FOR LINK?

He was standing in front of her, laughing so hard, so malevolently she thought his head would fall off. She drew her sword, ready to fight, when she saw Zelda.

"Zelda!" Meghan's hand dropped, the sword falling to her side, still clutched in her hand, carelessly. She forgot about the evil man standing next to her in her want to help her friend.

BAD mistake.

She ducked just in time to miss a blow from Gannondorf's Sword. Pulling the sword back up to the ready position, Meghan readied for a blow. He swung and she parried, holding it there with all her strength.

But he was too strong…

They stood, swords locked in battle. It was too much for Meghan. The sword flung from her hands all the way across the room. Gannondorf's sword came crashing down, and she jumped back just in time to miss a blow to her hand. She escaped with just a cut, trickling down her hand…

She pulled the pocketknife from her pocket, ready to pounce…

That all seemed so long ago. Now, all she could do was sit (or lay). And she waited…

MEANWHILE

Link went through the different doors, which each held a small puzzle to solve, each with a likeness to the temples in Hyrule…Spirit, Shadow…Fire, Water…Forest and Light were each dispatched without much work. He even got new gauntlets, but nothing could relieve him of his worried state. How did she get in so easily when he had to solve all of these puzzles? He didn't see her anywhere…

Finally, the force field came down He ran inside the tower, fought some monsters, and got more keys. Then he ran up more stairs…

MEANWHILE…

Meghan was thinking…

I'm helpless, I'm gonna die…

Nobody's trying to save me…

Maybe they don't care…

I was always in the way it seemed…

"Look at you, littlegirl, lying there helpless, like a little bug, waiting to be _squashed_." Zelda was now doing all she could to get out of her bubble. Nothing seemed to work…

Meghan thought she heard a door open…

She couldn't move…

It must be the door to …

"_Die._" It sounded, like a whisper so far away…

Then the sounded of a sword crashing down on air, that sounds like the sword is cutting the air…cutting wind…

CLANG

The sound of metal on metal…somebody had saved her and she could feel who it was…

Another scrape, and she knew Gannondorf and the presence were further away.

So she waited.

CLANG CLANG…CLANG

It seemed to last forever…

She still couldn't move, but she was silently thanking the presence for saving her from by decapitation…

"I'll be back…" Gannondorf said, suddenly breathing very hard and he spit something out. EEEWW! He collapsed,dead.(?)

"Is she…" Link started to say.

"She's alright. She's in a semi-conscious state in which she can hear us but cannot move." Zelda said, now out of the bubble. "I'll see if I can revive her." She knelt down next to Meghan, held out her hand and a stream of magic flowed from it. Meghan felt a warm sensation and she could move again. But she was sore all over, and tired.

"Are you alright?" Link asked her, steadying her as she stood. She was weak, and was leaning mostly on him.

"Mmm-hmm," Meghan looked at Link, and noticed something different.

"YOU got new gauntlets."

"Yup, the gold gauntlets."

"Those would have come in handy a few minuets ago…" Meghan held up her hand to show him what was still dripping.

"Oh, let me fix that." He said, wrapping the wound with some gauze from his endless back pocket. He wrapped it tightly but in a gentle manner.

"Pretty good, for someone who doesn't bleed." Meghan said as she examined her wrapped hand. She realized that Link was breathing heavily, and he leaned on his knees. Zelda was looking out the stained glass window.

"Hey, Link, your life meter is down. Let me see if I have potion…" Meghan said as she rummaged through her backpack. She held out some blue potion to him.

"No, wait until it is lower."

"It's low enough, take it."

"No, I can wait…"

"No you can't.

Zelda was still standing next to the window, and she sighed. She watched as Meghan tried to shove the potion down his throat, but he repeatedly pushed her hands away.

Like children, she thought. Could it be over? She placed her gloved hand on the window. Could this be the end of the evil that once roamed our land? What will become of Link and Meghan?

She looked back at Meghan and Link, who had Meghan's wrist in his hands, pinning them down so she couldn't reach his mouth.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake.

"Link, with his last breath, Gannondorf is trying to collapse this place!" Zelda warned.

"Come on! We have to go!" Link was still short of breath, so he was a bit slow.

"Ya should've listened to me." Meghan said.

"Follow me!" Zelda said as they rushed down the tower. Zelda used her magic to open a gate, and they went onward. Debris from the collapsing tower was falling, barely missing their heads.


	37. BID MY BLOOD TO RUN

Tell me if you think this should be rated differently, I was confused.

...And She Waited

A piece of debris hit Meghan's arm, burning it. She recoiled in pain for a second but kept going.

"You're hurt. We have to stop."

"No! Link, we don't have time!!!"

So they kept going.

In the last room, a larger piece of debris fell in front of Meghan and Link. They instinctively jumped backwards, separating them a lot from Zelda. A wall of fire appeared around Zelda, and some monsters appeared. Link was too slow to fight now, and Meghan knew they had to get out fast. She did the only thing she could…a very risky and dangerous move…

"FURY BLAST!!!" Meghan yelled, releasing her strongest attack, derived from her inner energy. But a lot of energy it took. She fell to her knees for a second and watched as the monsters were disintegrated before her eyes, shields to weak to protect them.

"Meghan, why did you do that? It was way to risky, you're still developing that attack!" He questioned, helping her to her feet.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I just wanted to get it over with." They ran out of the tower and watched it crumble before their eyes…

"Link, take this and DON"T argue with me about it." Link took the bottle of potion and drank half of it.

"Take the rest."

"EEEWWW! No! You just drank from it!"

"So?" he asked, truly confused. Obviously, Hylians don't have germs where they come from…

"You're right." Meghan hesitantly drank the rest of the contents, and immediately felt rejuvenated.

"Thanks."

"You're…" He was cut off by a sound.

"What was that?" Zelda inquired.

"I'll go look." Meghan started to follow him, but Zelda held her back.

"No, it could be dangerous."

"But…O-o-ok.

Something moved as Link stepped forward. He stepped back. Another wall of fire formed around the outside of the collapsed tower, keeping Zelda and Meghan from getting to Link.

"WATCH OUT!" Meghan cried. Gannondorf appeared, floating in the air. He transformed into Gannon. (You know the drill; do I really have to explain exactly how????) It roared ferociously with its head tilted back. Link drew the Master Sword. Gannon swiped at him and Link slid across the floor and hit the wall of fire, then slid back forward. He cringed in pain. Eyes squeezed shut; he slowly stood then opened his eyes while his head was still tilted downward.

"Link, Link! Oh, Link, are you OK???"

"For the sake of Hyrule," he started quietly, "YOU SHALL DIE!" he said, now louder. He charged at Gannon.

"Zeld, we have to help him!!!!" Can't you use your magic to make a whole in the fire, just for a few seconds??"

"I can't do it alone!"

Link charged and hit Gannon's armored stomach…

"Well I can't use Magic…"

""Link, I don't know what his weakness is!" Navi cried…

"…And Link is busy at the moment…"

Link charged, this time hitting its tail…

"Use your attack"

"Yes, we found it! A weakness!"

"But I can't, I already used it today. But, I have to try!" Meghan said confidently. "Here goes… FURY BLAST!!!" Zelda also used her magic, and together they opened a hole. Meghan jumped through, but closed it before Zelda could come through."

"Stay here, you're not armed."

"But I-"

"No! It's to dangerous for an unarmed person!"

"But…" Meghan was already running toward Link.

"Link!"

"Meghan, what are you doing here!???? It's too dangerous, even for you!!!"

"I'm going to help you. Please, DEAL WITH IT!"

"I want you to-"

"Meghan, use the Light arrows!" Zelda yelled.

"Hand em over."

"Watch out!" Link pushed Meghan out of the way as Gannon swiped at them.

"Darn!"

"Here, take them!" Link dumped his bow and quiver in Meghan's hands. Meghan cocked an arrow and released it. Gannon was temporarily paralyzed.

"Great shot!" Link complemented as he hit its tail. It let out an earsplitting roar. Link slashed again and Gannon wasn't paralyzed anymore.

"Come on you guys! You can do it!" Zelda enthusiastically cheered. They repeated the process.

As soon as Meghan was going to release the third arrow, Gannon took a huge swipe at them. Link tried to block with his sword, but it got knocked out of his hand. Meghan didn't have a weapon in her hand, and didn't even think about the bow, so she attempted to dodge it.

But she wasn't quick enough.

Gannon's sword cut her across the stomach. She gasped, clutching her stomach and staining her hands and arms withblood. She gasped for breath again, fell on her knees, and spitblood on the floor.

"MEGHAN!" Could there be a louder yell? Zelda gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Link knelt down next to her and let her lean back on him. He went to examine the wound, and he could tell by the rip in her shirt that it was serious and wasbleeding profusely, but Gannon was getting impatient. He had no choice but to make her wait though his heart seriously disagreed with him…

He lifted her oh so gently, carried her to a large boulder within the vicinity, and leaned her against it.

"Wait here," He barely whispered. "I'll be right back, just hold on and don't, don't leave me." Meghan looked up with wide scared eyes, nodded, still holding her stomach. He went…

…And she waited…

She watched as the battle waged on. She waited as link did perfectly what the two of them had just done. She had to hang on, and she tried. She was once again in a helpless predicament.

So she waited.


	38. HEROES OF SORTS

She watched as the battle waged on. She waited as Link did perfectly what the two of them had just done. She had to hang on, and she tried. She was once again in a helpless predicament.

So she waited.

She watched. Everything as a blur… a burst of light from the arrows…a glint of light reflected of the sword. She could barely move her head, but she turned it just slightly enough to see the master sword beyond the fiery wall. _I can help_, she thought, _I can actually do something for the people I love…Hyrule…and for myself._

She would. She would help.

Burst…glint…

It was bound to happen sometime…

Burst…glint…

On the count of three, she prepared to retrieve it for Link.

Burst…glint…

One…two… But suddenly the wall was down. She turned to see that Gannon was too getting weak. She inched up the rock, to her luck Link wasn't looking. Just to stand up was a great effort. Could she walk? Only one way to find out… She took a hesitant step, and the pain was excruciating.

"Meghan. Don't!" Zelda was rushing toward her, but Meghan pushed her away.

"I must do this. I cannot sit and watch as others save me all the time. He always does. I'm never any use. I just sit back and enjoy the luxury of being cared for, never caring in return. Time for a change. Changes are for the better, but here I am going on about changes WHEN I COULD BE HELPING!!!! Do you see what I mean? I…" Meghan groaned and nearly fell. She stood and walked toward the sword. Zelda rushed over to help her.

"Dear Meghan. I do not think that you should torture yourself if that's what it means to help someone." She saw the determined look on Meghan's face and hesitated with what she was saying. "But… if this is what you want, I'll help."

"No helping this time, Zeld. I'll do it…alone." And so, Meghan began her painful march, to help. And every time she stumbled, Zelda was there to catch her. Though she was pushed away by the now independent girl.

FLASHBACK

Meghan and Link were sitting on a house in Kakariko village.

"You know Meghan," he began "There are two types of heroes. One fights, physically or verbally, for what they believe to be right. Some might even consider an evil man such as Gannondorf to be a hero, if that's what they believe in.

"But, the second type is one who lives their life enjoying it with others, helping themselves AND the others. All people are heroes; it is just a matter of which kind. I consider myself a hero in the second way. Not as the Hero of Time. It is merely a title. Because I found so many friends along my journeys. Some of the most precious sit here now."

Meghan was surprised. And confused. What was he saying? Could he…no, they were just friends. But the look on his face told her otherwise.

"Thank you Link."

"It is I that should be thanking you. Ever since we met, you and I have been bonded in a hero's way…"

"Which one?" Meghan giggled.

"Hmmm," Link said thoughtfully, "I don't know." He smiled too. Meghan yawned and leaned back on Link. She promptly fell asleep.

"Good night, my precious." He whispered, looking out toward Death Mountain. "It was fate that brought us here, and fate that will take us both away."


	39. RECOVERY: A LOST FRIEND REMEMBERED

Heh, heh, somebody told me that I should change this to fantasy...because of my OC's injuries...heh heh.

Meghan was almost near the Master Sword now. Link was still fighting valiantly.

"Meghan, will you even be able to carry it?' Zelda asked.

"I have to try. And I'm not going to let you help.

"Why not? Nobody will mind. They will wish that you asked for help, if you die."

"So I'm going to die now? Oh, that's real inspiring." Meghan must have lost too much blood or something, she never acted like that. Zelda looked shocked, but thought better of saying anything. _She's already in too much pain._

_Almost there..._She thought, the pain still flowing through her. She took another step and became number with every step. Finally, she was there. But could she even bring it to him? _Yes,_ she thought, _I have to. Think Of all that's at stake! Some things matter more than my own life..._

Meghan pulled on it. Oh, it seemed so heavy! How on earth was she to even transport it to where he was? But she found just a bit of inspiration, and moved it just an inch out of the ground.

It was even heavy when she wasn't injured, so how did she expect to bring it when she was injured? But she dispelled her evil thoughts and had a sudden adrenaline rush. She pulled the whole thing out of the ground, where it was stuck. But now she had to move it to Link.

Yes! Link, oh now she could! He was her inspiration, her life, her everything! I will bring it to him!

"Link, Link, Link, Link, Link, Link, Link..." she chanted, taking a step every time she repeated his name. Wow, she must have sounded stupid. But, she was on the brink of death, and Zelda was left helpless to the situation because Meghan would just push her away every time she got within arm's reach. (Remember, she has lost too much blood). Only then did Link take light to the situation going on behind him.

"Meghan! NO!"

"Here Link, I brought this for you," she said, in a daze. "I thought you might need it."

"Meghan, don't!" Meghan was barely standing.

"Link, finish Gannon! I'll take care of her!" Meghan was now barely conscious, just walking around with a dazed smiled on her face. Link grabbed the sword, but didn't want to leave.

"GO!" Link hesitated, but turned to finish his battle. Zelda made Meghan sit down, and attempted to heal her. But her magic didn't work that well on someone who wasn't Hylian, Zora, Goron, or Kokiri. It would take a long time. Meghan was in between life and death, not even seeing what was going on before her. She knew Zelda had left her for a moment to hold Gannon off while Link finished him with the master sword, but all she heard were people talking in the language of Hylian. She knew enough to understand what was going on.

"_This girl, she served Hyrule well. ' Tis now your decision, Farore, whether she will aid us here, go back to her old life, or continue living in Hyrule."_

"**In the realm of the gods, she does not belong. She is not native to the Hylians, or anywhere near, Nayru. But she has made a new life in Hyrule, where I think she should stay. It is not her time, and she will enjoy it with the person she loves there, until it is."**

"_**I agree with Farore. Her destiny was not ours to create at first, but now we can since she left the care of the human's gods. In this dimension, she will be happier."**_

"_Then it is settled. You shall stay, child. I do hope you're happy with Farore's, the creator of life, decision."_

"Yes, I will be eternally grateful to you, great goddesses. I will not waste what you have given me. It was an honor to even be within your presence."

"_Then go now, child. They await you."_

"Thank you."

She awoke from her daydream to find herself in Link's arms.

"Meghan, come on! Please, don't leave me." The tears from his eyes dripped down his face. One landed on her cheek. Her eyes squeezed shut before they opened slowly. The first thing she saw was Link looking away from her and Zelda, squeezing the tears from his eyes. (Yes, he cries. GIGGLE!) "Don't, no NO! Meghan..." he realized her eyes were opened and he smiled.

"Meghan..." he said, staring into her eyes.

"_Don't worry, Link. I'll stay, they let me. I'll stay_..." she whispered, smiling at him before slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

"Uhhhg..." she moaned as she awoke. "OOOOh, Link?" Meghan said.

"Meghan?" Link rushed over to her from the stool he was sitting on reading something.

"Where, uuhhg, where am I?" she said, attempting to sit up. But he gently pushed her back down.

"You're still too weak. Rest, for now." He said, kneeling beside the bed. "Oh, and you're at my house." It was true. She was lying in his bed with a blanket over her.

"OH MY GOSH!" She said, sitting up before he could stop her.

"Did-I mean-you beat him?" she asked awkwardly.

"Yes, Meghan, it's all over."

"Where's Zelda? I need to talk to her!"

"She's been here, for a while. You just missed her."

"Oh, will she come back?"

"Yes, I told her I'd tell her when you've awoken so she can to talk to you."

"How long have I been out?"

"Nearly two days."

"WHAT???"

"It's the truth. Zelda had tried to heal you, but it took longer than she expected. She did just enough so that you could heal the rest by yourself."  
"I need to talk to her as soon as possible."

"I can go get her, but I'm not going to leave you here alone for that long. I'll tell the Twins to watch you."

"But I want to come with you!"

"No, you can't. You're way to weak and you need to heal. So lie down." He said, pushing her back down again. "I need you to be in top shape when Zelda comes. Wait here, I'll go get them. I'll be right back."

He returned a minute later with one of the Twins. She pretended she was asleep.

"Make sure she doesn't get up. And if she tries, she's weak so don't let her go anywhere."

"Alright, whoever you are. I still think you remind me of someone. Hey, isn't this Link's house?"

"Yes, he said I could borrow it." Link said with a sigh.

"Ok, mister. See ya!" Link left and Meghan was left alone with one of the twins. She never could tell which one was which, and her eyes were closed so there was no way to. She waited a few minutes and pretended to wake. She yawned.

"Hello. Where's your sister?"

"She's still at our house."

"Oh..." Meghan tried to think of something to say, but couldn't think of anything. _Why do I have to be babysat? _She wondered.

"Sooo," Meghan said, looking at her. "Did Link tell you anything?"

"Link?"

_Oops, I forgot she didn't know._

"Yeah, maybe I should tell you..." Meghan thought of the consequences... "That IS Link."

"WHAT? Oh my Goddesses! It is? Well, it HAS been seven years, but Kokiris don't grow up..."

"He's not a Kokiri. He's Hylian and was always bound to leave this forest." Meghan quoted from the Deku Sprout.

"Really? Is Saria too?"

"No, she's Kokiri."

"Then where'd she go?"

"Uhh, on vacation."

"Right, then."

_Ok,_ Meghan thought_, Link better come back before I reveal anymore potentially dangerous info._


	40. SEVEN DAYS TO SEVEN YEARS

A few minutes later Link appeared at the door. As he walked in, Zelda followed him. Meghan sat up, feeling stronger though still weak.

"Hello, Meghan."

"Hi, Zelda. I need to tell you..."

"Hold on a second..." Zelda stood, as though waiting for something to happen. The twin went up to Link and said:

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US WHO YOU WERE!!!???" as she pointing a finger at him.

"I...I tried, but..." Link said as he took a step back from the twin's accusing finger, "You...I..." Zelda and Meghan were trying to refrain from laughing.

"Sure, that's what they all say. And you know what? I bet SHE"S Saria, right? RIGHT??"

"Uhh, no, she's..."

"I am Zelda."

"OH, Zelda! I've heard of you before. You're the princess, right?"

"_I guess she doesn't get out much_." Meghan mumbled.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, I'd better get going. A house doesn't clean itself, you know!" and with that, she skipped off like nothing had happened.

"Well, that was a strange occurance." Meghan said. Link exhaled like he had just been let off the hook.

"Just you wait Link. The rest of them will come, too."

"Just how much did you tell them, anyway?" He said jokingly.

"Oh, that's it."

"Good."

"AAANNNYYYWWWAAAYYY..."

"So," Meghan said, now serious. "What I was going to say was that I'm sorry for the way I treated you when...you know...I was injured..."

"Meghan, it is completely understandable. But, we have bigger business to tend to."

"Yes, Meghan. You'd better listen closely." Meghan looked from Link to Zelda. They both knew something she didn't.

"So...I'm guessing that this is really important?'

"Yes, it is." Zelda began solemnly. Link had pulled up one of his wooden stools for each of them before she began. "Meghan, seven years ago I gave Link the Ocarina of Time. I had told him that if he gathered the three Spiritual Stones, we could protect the Triforce from Gannon. Goodness, this is harder than I expected. Well, what I am trying to say is that we-I- opened the door of time and accidentally let Gannon in. He stole the Triforce, and Hyrule plunged into a time of despair and . Our whole adventure was trying to awaken the sages so they could help Link seal Gannon away forever. Which is where you came in.

"You helped us so much, and we will forever be grateful. But I was a little when I made the decision to save Hyrule, and it has to be reversed." Link let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He knew what was coming next.

"It is too dangerous to keep the Door of Time open much longer. Gannon was sealed with the Sacred Realm, in the dark bowls of it. But if we leave the door open much longer, it is possible he could find a way out. We need to put the Master Sword back in its pedestal, so the door will close.

"But, by doing this, you know the doorway between the two time periods would be lost forever. But what will happen...to you, we do not know. Anything could happen. In order to save Hyrule, though, this must be done." Meghan showed a surprised look on her face, looking at Zelda.

"But-that means...I could...go back to where...I came from...or I could...cease to exist..."

"Mmm hmmm, but it must be done." Meghan nodded her head understandingly.

"I'm going to give you a week, for you to heal...and for you two...to say...goodbye." She added quietly. Tears appeared in Meghan's eyes.

She looked at Link.

"_I don't want to go back_," she whispered, "_But Hyrule comes first_."

"Meghan, you have done more for Hyrule than most Hylians, Kokiris, Zoras or Gorons ever have." She stood and gave Meghan a hug. Meghan started to cry. Zelda held her, waiting for the tears to stop.

"Sshh, it will be OK. Sshh," she said. Meghan's tears soon stopped. Her eyes had lost all their , and she was staring hollowly ahead, thinking.

**Meghan's Point of View**

Seven days. And then seven years. Will that be enough? I don't know what I'll do if I have to go back...it wasn't bad there; I just couldn't live...without...him. I don't know what I'd do, I really don't know. Why is it whenever something good happens, it has to go away?

Normal point of view 

Meghan didn't even realize that now Link was there, also holding her. She was just confused. Utterly, completely confused.


	41. A forced fate: DAY ONE

_**I'd like to thank ALL my reviewers, lots and lots! I love getting reviews! I dance and sing and blah and blah blah and blah and blah...**_

_**So, thank you: Serenitythefaierin, Marakakar, and Atchika. **_

_**Wow, I LOVE REVIEWERS! **_

A FORCED FATE

DAY 1 

It all seemed like a blur. She had hardly realized what had happened yesterday after Zelda told her what was going to happen.

_Seven days, _she said in her mind_. Seven days, like seven years, it's all connected. All connected. Together, it must mean something. I wonder what will happen. Seven days, seven days. It's like I want it to come, just to see. But it's probably something bad, so no; I don't want it to happen. Seven days. _

"Seven Days!" she said out loud. They were in Link's house. She was sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall, and he was sitting on a stool, thinking like she was.

"What?" he said, surprised out of his thoughts. "What happened?"

"I said," she whispered: "_Seven days_."

"Forgive me; I'm lost."

"We have seven days, SO WHAT IN NAYRU'S NAME ARE WE DOING SITTING HERE, MOPING AROUND???"

"Huh?" he said, shocked. Meghan was now giggling insanely. And it lasted a long time.

"We have seven days. And we ARE WASTING TIME!!" She said. She jumped up, grabbed his hand, and pulled him outside onto the balcony. She put her hands up in the air.

"WOO-HOO! Thank you goddesses. WE HAVE _seven days." _She said, first loudly, and then whispered. It seemed her confusedness was passed on to Link, who was staring at her like she was an alien. But he wasn't exactly wrong to do that.

"Let's go somewhere."

"Ok. Where?"

"I don't know."

"Let's go...to the dessert."

"Why there?"

"I don't know." (To readers: when they get there, it would be a good time to go to , click on Nintendo 64 on the left side, click on

S-z, scroll to the bottom to OoT and click on Gerudo Valley (techno remix) and it may sound corny in the beginning, but keep listening because it gets good!)

"Ok."

"But you need to take it easy. You still need to heal."

"Whatever, as long as we go SOMEWHWERE."

"Yeah, whatever to you too."

"Oh, you're real nice." Meghan playfully pushed him. They descended the ladder. Meghan accidentally rubbed her stomach on the scab against the wooden ladder, and it hurt badly.

"Ouch!" She yelled, jumping the rest of the way down. Link jumped the whole way down.

"Are you alright?" he asked, walking towards her.

"Yeah, I just slipped a bit..." but before she could finish what she was saying, a throng of Kokiris came up to Link, surrounding him and not letting Meghan get to him.

"We want answers!"

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us?

"We were worried sick!"

"Where's Saria?"

"I..."

"Don't give us that! We want answers!"

"I was just about to answer..."

"You're Hylian?"

"Yeah...well..."

"So whom IS this girl following you around?"

"OK, guys, give the Hero a bit of room." A girl's voice said suddenly.

"Is that..."

"SARIA!"

Now the bunch of Kokiris surrounded Saria. It fit her much better; she was the same size as them.

"Saria! Where have you been? We were worried sick!"

"Amazing, she doesn't get yelled at." Link said playfully.

"Hey, Link! Meghan! There's something I need to talk to you about." Saria said as she escaped the horde of inquiring Kokiris. "Come with me!"

"Ok, let's go Link!" They followed Saria all the way to the Sacred Forest Meadow. When they got there, Saria said:

"Zelda told me her decision. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, we're fine. Right, Meghan?

"Yep, good as pie."

"Excuse me?" Saria said, confused.

"I mean, yeah, we're fine."

"If there IS anything, just let me know."

"K"

"So I guess we're not going to the dessert today?"

"Guess not. Let's just stay here and talk." So, they talked, and talked, and talked until nighttime. Meghan, Saria, and Link had a lot of fun.

"Well, we'd better get going. Meghan needs her rest."

"I DO NOT!"

"Whoa! Calm down. I'm just kidding." Link said, putting his hands up like he was going to ward off a blow.

"Sure. That's what they all say." Meghan said, giggling quietly.

"Good bye, Meghan and goodbye, Link."

"We'll see you later!" Meghan waved as they started to walk back to his house.

"Well, that was cool. I'm tired."

"I'd expect you to be." Meghan realized what she just said, and tried to contradict it.

"I mean...I'm not THAT tired."

"Sure."

"HEY! I mean it...ok I don't mean it. I'm tired."

"Good. Now lets go." Meghan had been staying at Saria's house, since she was never there. As they walked to her house, she waved goodnight to Link. He walked up to her, though.

"Meghan," he said as he took one of her hands, "I just want you to know that, whatever happens, we must stay strong. What will happen is our destiny, so we cannot change it."

"Yeah," she said looking into his eyes. She had always thought he was nice looking, but now as she looked into the light, blue eyes of Link she realized that he was positively handsome.

She herself was not very pretty, at least she thought. She had dark, brown hair that came almost down to her butt, now becoming uneven because it hadn't been trimmed in so long. Her eyes were dark brown as well, almost black. She was an average height, for her age, but overall was only OK looking.

As she stared into his eyes she became almost hypnotized, and barely even realized that he was moving closer.

But at that moment, she pulled away from his hands and he let go. She said goodnight, as did he. She walked inside Saria's house.

"Wow, that was awkward." She whispered, leaning against the wall. "His eyes, they...hypnotized me. They're so beautiful."

MEANWHILE

Link was still standing outside Saria's house. Just staring into the sky as Navi flew excitedly around his head.

"LINK! You need to tell her someday! YOU WERE SO CLOSE!!!" Navi yelled.

"SSH! Keep it down, she'll hear! I want to tell her, not you!"

"Well, next time you'd better." Link just walked away at this comment, into his own house. He never slept, but tonight he felt a bit sleepy...

He fell asleep after reading the book he was reading last night...

MEANWHILE

Meghan lay down. She was thinking how much her life had changed. How Hyrule had changed it. How HE had changed it.

**The next chapter will explain all, (where she came from, why, who, what, when, and how) only because of that 'no submission' thing on the home page thingy, (and no reviews! WHAAA!) I don't know if I'll get to put it on 'till next week!!! So, if not, you'll have to wait to see where Meggy came from! I also have a new story called _Destiny's Fate. P_lease read, PLEASE?**

**Ciao!**


	42. ↓History:Part one↓

Ack! What kind of idiot am I!!!! I spelled Serenitythefaierikin wrong! I'm an idiot!!!! Sorry!

Anyway, on with the story…

This chapter is the first part of the story of how Meghan came to Hyrule and stuff

MAJOR FLASHBACK

Meghan's Point of View 

I had a normal, human life. No Hylians existed. Just, the humans and me. I was fifteen. Fifteen years old. An age that was just right, but I hated it. I always wanted to be younger.

But I don't care about that anymore. I have something even better, right?

Most definitely.

And it just so happened, when I was on the brink ofdestruction, when I was going to explode from the emotional flaws of my life, an answer came. It was THE answer, my redeemer, and my seraph. It was Hyrule. This vast, wide land expanding across the territories of many races saved me. From myself.

That night had been my near end. Everything as getting to me. Sure, I had good friends that I could have talked to, but I was too proud to ask for help. I just wanted to cry my heart out. Literally. I fell asleep that night, still fully dressed. I was a sort of half-Goth, in the sense that I always wore a black shirt or white shirt and three black chokers around my neck. I just wear jeans with everything. (Hey, that part is true! I mean the part about my clothes and chokers.) The chokers never come off, and to me they're a sign of my weirdness. Let everybody know the girl with three chokers, I say to myself. And I'll never let go. Not even now.

When I fell asleep that night, I had a dream about a boy, wielding a sword. But that's all I remembered. I don't remember what he looked like. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Or maybe it was telling me something.

When I awoke, I found myself on the floor. Pillows were strewn across the floor where I had thrown them last night in my suppressed rage. I remembered everything at that moment and the tears fell from my eyes again. I cried silently, not wanting to attract the attention of anybody. I don't let anybody know when I cry. Well, I didn't. I guess I wanted everybody to think I was tough, but now in Hyrule, I don't seem so anymore. This is why I let my weaker side come out more often now.

I didn't exactly have a bad life; actually, I guess it was very good compared to others. But I was selfish at the time, letting what I had seem like not enough.

Anyway, when I got up to sit back on my bed, I think my hand slid under my bed or something, because the next thing I knew, there was a big, gaping hole underneath my bed. It was big enough for me to fit through VERY easily, but small enough that the legs of my bed were still on the side. It was glowing white and I fell into it…

Normal P.O.V 

Meghan fell into the void. She kept falling, it seemed, though it was like she was falling sideways, if you could imagine that. (By the way, that web site I tried to say in my last chapter is vgmusic . com. Now, go to temple of time (remix) and listen as she falls) She could have sworn she heard some music. It was an instrument that she'd heard before, just what was it? It was…it was…an…♫o…c…a…r…i…n…a.♫

"Yes…" she cried. " But why? Where have I heard it before?"

Suddenly, she was thrust sideways, and hit a floor. It was a grassy floor. She realized that she had merely materialized out of a stonewall. Somewhere…somehow. She had fallen on her tailbone, and it hurt.

"Ouch!" she cried out, and she looked up, she saw somebody sitting atop a horse, playing an instrument. He stopped and looked at her. They stared at each other for a while.

"Uh, can I help you?" he said as he dismounted. He was wearing a blue tunic, and had a big sword on his back and a silver shield with lots of symbols in gold and blue.

"Uhhhh…" Meghan said, as she observed her surroundings. "Hold on…I've seen this place before."

"You have? What's your name? I haven't seen you around here."

"I'm Meghan."

"Hello, Meghan."

"Hello, Link." He looked at her like she had just killedsomeone.

"Uhhh, how exactly do you know my name?"

"You ARE Link, right? From Ocarina of Time, Right?"

"Well, I am Link, and have an ocarina, the Ocarina of Time," _Maybe I shouldn't have told her that. _He thought. "But I'm not from anywhere but Hyrule. And the Kokiri forest, and some Gorons call me their brother…but that's not the point! How do you know my name?"

"Don't worry, I'm on your side. Where I come from, this whole place is a video game."

"What's a video game?"

"It's a sort of…something…that has a controller…that you…hold in your hands… and press that buttons…and control people…"

"That sounds cruel, how do you control people by using a …what's it called? A controlly?"

"No, it's a controllER. And they're not REAL people. They come up on a television screen. But…"

"Hold on. I don't get it. What's a 'television' and where are you from?"

"A television is where you watch people on a screen. A camera, which is something that records people when they do things, records them and then displays them on the TV."

"What's a TV? And how big is the Television? It must be big to fit people inside."

"No, it's just a recording of the people. It's just their picture, just their image."

"OOOHH! OK, but you still didn't tell me were you were from."

"I'm from earth."

"Where's that?"

"I don't think it's even in this dimension. Where I come from, people can't use magic."

"Why not?"

"It's just not possible for them."

"OK, I think I get it."

"Good. So, what Temple are you on?"

"Temple? Oh, I'm in the Water Temple, I just came out to get supplies."

"Cool."

"So…what are you going to do? How are you going to go back?"

"I don't know. I don't know." She said, looking into his sincere face.

"Well, I can't leave you here. It's cold out tonight."

"No it's not." She said, surprised he even cared.

"Of course it is." He said, smiling.

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Hmmm…you COULD come with me. The Kokiris would be happy to take care of you."

"Take care of me? I don't need to be taken care of. I just need to go home."

"Ok, we'll find a way to go home. But for now, you need to stay somewhere."

"Like, the Kokiri Forest. Do you think they'll let me?"

"Why not, they let ME in there."

"True…"

"We can ask Saria for help." He took out the Ocarina again. He played a song. It was Saria's song. (heh heh, go back to vgmusic . com and click on Saria's Song (remix) and have fun!)

"Hello?" Meghan heard a voice. Navi flew out of Link's tunic.

"Hi, Saria. I, ummm, found a girl. In Hyrule field, and she need somewhere to stay."

"She can stay at my house. I don't mind. If she needs somewhere to go. I'll be there soon. Head over to my house while you're waiting."

"OK." So, Link took Epona by her reins and told Meghan to follow him. They walked to the entrance of the Kokiri forest. Meghan realized where she was. They had been next to that stone wall thing that that went a little bit across Hyrule Field. ☺ As she followed Link, she observed her surroundings. It was exactly like the game. Everything was in the right place. The only difference was that there was MUCH better graphics. Because the people were real.

"Wow, it IS cold," Meghan said. She was wearing only a tank top, with the word ETERNAL written on the back. She had on a pair of dark jeans and a black glove on her left hand. (Woo-hoo! I love to wear gloves! Especially these gloves that I made that I cut off the fingertips to, they're called gauntlets as well. ☻)

She wrapped her hands around her arms, rubbing them. Link noticed want she was doing.

"We can get there faster if we ride Epona."

"WE?" Meghan was confused. _We?_ She thought. _What is he talking about?_

"Yes, if you get on behind me. I'm sure Epona can take us."

_Oh, the naiveté of this lone warrior_, she thought_. Old enough to carry the fate of Hyrule on his back, too young, and immature to know anything about girls. Doesn't know when to stop._

"What?" Meghan was trying so hard to prevent it, so she wouldn't hurt his feelings. But she wanted so desperately to not.

"Here, I can help you get on." Meghan was now so hesitant, she thought of running away._ I know he's good, but I don't know him and I don't want to go anywhere with him…_

"But, I'll walk. I'm fine. In fact, I'll just stay here. I'm sure I'll find a way back…can't be too hard."

"No, it's dangerous here at night, come with me. I'm sure that Saria can help you if you just COME.


	43. ↓History: Part two↓

"I…don't want…"

"Don't what?"

"OK, I'll get on the horse." (Thanks, Serenitythefaierikin. You helped me make up my about whether to get on the horse or not: P)

"OK." Link took her hand, which was very warm compared to the cold night. "You're freezing. Hurry up, we can get there fast." He helped her get her foot into the stirrup, and then she got on the rest of the way by herself. She had ridden horses on earth, so she knew a bit. He got on in front of her.

"Are you set?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Of course. Now, let's go!" The wind was pouring on the side of Meghan, but she was kept warm because Link was in front of her.

"Wait a second, what are my parents going to do? How will I explain to them when I get back where I was? They'll never believe I was inside a video game!"

"I don't think that we're in a video game, whatever it is. I think we are just in Hyrule."

"But, they won't believe me, either way."

"Shouldn't you being gone explain enough to them?"

"They're kinda thick sometimes."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that they…well, no matter how many times you them something, they don't listen. And just because they have never seen something. It's like, everything but things in their life are inadequate and it can't suffice in their brains that some things ARE real."

"That must be hard, living with thick people."

"Well, it's not like a disease you know. You make it sound like it is."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just a phrase, an expression."

"OH." By this point, they were at the entrance of the Kokiri Forest.

"Epona, stay here. I'll be back, sometime." They started to walk into the entrance. Meghan followed a bit behind him, still cold. They walked across the bridge, their footsteps echoing in the enclosed area. Then they got into the actual Kokiri Forest.

"Wow, it's prettier than in the game."

"Well, that's because it's not a game. I don't know what this 'video game' is, but I know this is real."

"Of course it is. You don't talk in the game."

"I what?"  
"Don't talk. I don't know why."

"Really? That's not fair!" he stopped walking. Meghan kept going. When she passed him, she turned and started walking backwards.

"Come on. Don't be a cry baby."

"What's a crybaby?" he started walking again. Meghan turned back around and walked next to him.

"That's a hard one. Well, let's see. How do I explain this without hurting your feelings."

"Is it bad?"

"No, it's just, an EXPRESSION. Like 'thick'. It means that you complain everywhere and are a goody goody."

"What's a-"?

"A goody goody is somebody who has to do everything right all the time, every day."

"I guess I'm a goody goody."

"No-"

"But I always do everything right. I'm not evil. I can't imagine being evil."

" A goody goody is more of…let's see… they wouldn't TOUCH a sword, they would be too afraid to get hurt."

"Oh, then I guess I'm not a goody goody."

"Nope." She said, giggling a little.

"You know, I feel like I've met you before…"

"Yeah, me too…but where?"

"I don't know…" By this point, they were at Saria's house. She was already inside.

"Hello, Saria."

"Hi, Link. How have you been?"

"I'm fine. Oh, this is Meghan." Meghan was standing behind Link, and like a shy child was peeking from around the back of him.

"H-Hello…"

"Don't be afraid. Come on in! Oh, you must be cold! But I'm afraid none of my clothes would fit you…you are a great deal taller than me." It was true. Estimating, Meghan figured that she was about at least a foot taller than Saria, but about six inches shorter than Link.

"I'm sure we can find some clothes for you somewhere…"

"I'll find some."

"Umm, I only like to wear certain types of clothes…but I suppose anything will work."

"What kind? I'm sure we can manage."

"Well, I only like to wear black…top…and I don't like to wear dresses…" Link and Saria looked at her funnily. "What?"

"Well, black is not a good color to wear around here…some people may think you're bad."

"Yes, black is the color of evil around here. But, I'm sure we can manage the pants part…"

"Thank you." She felt a little awkward talking about clothes while Link was in the room, but she got over it.

"Now, I think it is time you got some rest." Saria said.

"Yeah…I'll…just be…going…now." Link exited the room in a hurry.

After he left, Meghan faced Saria.

"Well, let's see. I'll make you a bed." Saria took many extra blankets and folded them neatly on the floor. Then she put one last blanket on top, to use as a blanket.

"Here you go." The bed looked quite comfortable, and she had to admit she was tired. After what just happened, she thought she could sleep anywhere. Even though she did not know these people, she knew what they were like from her world, and hoped it was the same in the real place.

She lay down, still dressed for she had no other clothes. Saria was washing her face in the water near her bed. She removed her headband, and then lay down herself.

"Thank you, Saria."

"You're welcome." Meghan had lain there for a while. Saria was asleep. But now Meghan didn't feel tired anymore. She sat up silently, looking out the window. In a few short hours, her life had been changed dramatically. She no longer lived at her home, but in a mysterious land called Hyrule. Although she had some background of it, it of course had many other things in it that were different. The people were all different. Well, the ones she had met so far.

She wanted to go somewhere, to explore. But, unfortunately, she had no idea where, so she was at a loss. She thought of Saria, sleeping, and had to thank her somehow. She didn't want to wake her though, so she searched the room for a piece of paper and a pencil. She found some paper of the desk and took a piece. Just in case, she wasn't back. It read like this:

Dear Saria and Link,

I could not stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go.

I don't know where I'm going, but I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I shall be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one had ever shown me before.

Sincerely,

Meghan Black

She thought the letter over. She considered writing a new one. Then she considered not leaving one at all. But, she decided to leave this one.

She went to the bed and picked all the blankets. She folded them neatly and silently, and then put them where she had seen Saria take them from. She put the letter folded on the table, then put the pencil back where she had found it. When she was done, the only thing different about Saria's house was the letter on the table, labeled "To Link and Saria." She took one last look, then slipped out into the cold night.

"Good bye," she whispered as she started to leave the Kokiri forest. She was waking towards the exit, when she saw him. Link was walking towards her, coming from the entrance/exit.

She gasped, and then ran behind Saria's house. She went up the spiral ramp to the top, where she hoped he wouldn't look. _But what if he goes to his house?_ She thought. _He would see me from there._

She went over to the other side of the forest and hid behind Mido's house as he walked past. He seemed to be carrying something. She went behind the house, and climbed that little wall thing. It was hard because the thing was a little taller than her. She put her hands on top of it, and then jumped. She swung a leg over, and then couldn't pull herself up more. _Come on_ she thought, and made it over the wall. She climbed the wall of Vines. It was surprisingly easy.

She ran to the entrance of the Lost Woods, hoping she could find one of the teleport things. She hoped that she could remember the correct way, and if she could, she hoped it was the same as in the game.

She went right, and then left, past the skull kids, and came to the Goron City entrance_. I could go here,_ she thought, _but I don't want to startle any Gorons…_

She turned and faced the left, where Mido would be standing…_I don't want to go swimming anyway, so I guess this is the best way out._

She walked through the stone doorway and felt all wobbly, though she kept walking. She found herself at the entrance to the city.

_Ahhh! Gorons! _She thought. Even though they looked kind and didn't actually see her, since they were laying down. She snuck behind them and got to the exit of the city. There was one last Goron to sneak past…

"Who are you?" He sat up and asked her.

"I…Um…I'm…from…"

"Are you a Gerudo? You have ears like them! You're not Hylian…"

"No! I'm not Gerudo! I'm…I think at least…Human."

"What is 'human'?"

"I don't come from around here. I come from Earth."

"What's that?"

"I don't think it's in this dimension."

"Oh." _Gorons are gullible_, she thought.

"I'll just be going now…" she started to back up out the entrance/exit. But he followed her.

"Wait! I have questions!" he started to chase her. She ran out and out ran him. _Just as long as he doesn't roll, he can't catch me._

She walked down the mountain, which, despite the altitude, was very warm. That was, of course due to the fact that it was actually a Volcano! She went down to where the entrance to the Dodongo Cavern was. She went down that pathway, the one that led to Kakariko village.

Suddenly, she heard a rolling sound. _That's not good._

A Goron was rolling down the mountain towards her!

"AHHHHH!" She was near the part of the wall that Link had blown with a bomb. She ran into the little cove, just inn time to not get run over. But, her foot was not so lucky.

"OUCH!" she started to hop around. Her foot had been run over! "Inconsiderate Goron!" She yelled after it. She hoped around the little place and once the Goron had passed, she hoped out. She half limped and half hoped down the mountain. The pain had receded by the time she got to Kakariko.

"That was my first injury. I have a feeling it's not going to be my last." How right she could be! She walked into the small village.

"I could go to the archery place…that would be fun!" she said as she walked by it. Unfortunately, it was still dark, so it wasn't open. "But first I need to find some money." She went to where you can easily find a red rupee (I'm not telling where! Well, OK) she went to a crate thing. The one that always holds the red rupee that is next to the windmill.

"Now how am I going to do this?" Normally, in the game, Link would do a rolling attack and break it, but she didn't know how to do that. _I need a sword so I can cut grass and stuff like that. I wonder if, after Link got old, the Kokiri sword was returned to its normal spot. Well, only one way to find out._

Meghan decided that she would go to the Forest. _But what if Link is there? I don't want to run into him. I'll just have to be careful._

She decided the quickest way would be back up the mountain. As she walked back up, she avoided all the obstacles that she had run into before. By this time, it was sunrise.

MEANWHILE

Saria was waking. For a moment, she forgot about everything. Then, she remembered that there was a girl here last night. She scanned the room, but found nothing. The blankets she had made a bed from were neatly folded and placed back where they were. Everything was just as it had been before the girl came, except a folded piece of paper on her table. It was labeled "To Link and Saria." She went and opened it. It read:

Dear Saria and Link,

I could not stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go.

I don't know where I'm going, but I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I shall be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one had ever shown me before.

Sincerely,

Meghan Black

Saria actually had a bit of trouble reading it, because English wasn't the language that they normally spoke. They just knew it. Afraid that she had misread it, she ran outside to find Link.

She ran to his house and looked if she could see him.

"Link!" She called, hoping he was there. She heard Ocarina music flowing from the house, and she knew he was there. "Link!" She called even louder. The music stopped, and he walked outside. He jumped halfway down the ladder.

"What is it, Saria?"

"Look!" She showed him the letter that Meghan had left for them. He held it close to his face and read it carefully:

Dear Saria and Link,

I could not stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go.

I don't know where I'm going, but I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I shall be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one had ever shown me before.

Sincerely,

Meghan Black

"She doesn't get it, does she." Link said. Saria gave him a questioning look.

"What do you mean, 'she doesn't get it?'"

"I mean I don't think she realizes that there's no way back."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm not sure, I just know. It's like, I feel like she…I don't know…is important to saving Hyrule for some reason. I could be wrong."

"So you think she's going to stay here?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Well, then we must find her. We can't just leave her to fend for herself here. For a girl like her, it is quite impossible. She has no way of protecting herself."

"That's true. I guess…if we find her…we need to give her some sort of weapon."

"LINK! She's just a girl! She needs no weapons to cloud her mind with violence!"

"Yeah, I suppose you are right."

"What she needs is someone to protect her." Saria stared intently at Link. He looked back at her.

"WHAT?" he questioned, slowly realizing what she had just said. "You mean…you want ME? To protect her?"

"I can't think of anyone else."

"But…I need to save Hyrule…if I have to protect her, then she HAS to have a weapon, because then she would have to come with me to all the temples."

"True…"

"We can get the Kokiri sword…I'm sure she could handle THAT thing."

"Yes, I do believe she could. Good, just, how are we supposed to get it?"

"It's in that hole near the training area."

"OK, I'll crawl in a retrieve it." Saria ran off.


	44. ↓History: Part three↓

Thanks to all my reviewers: Argetshur'tugal1, serenitythefaierikin, Atchika, Marakakar, Maple (though I have no idea what you said) Indi-101, daydreamer1313. Did I miss anybody? Yell at me if I did. Here's the next one (sorry it took me a while)

MEANWHILE

Meghan exited the Lost Woods, into the Kokiri forest.

Meghan was going to find the Kokiri sword. But, she saw Link and Saria talking next to Link's house.

" I need to get over there without being seen." She whispered to herself. Saria had something in her hand and she was just handing it to Link.

"Oh, great. It's the letter!" Now she felt embarrassed. If they saw her, she would be in so humiliated she couldn't stand it. Luckily, though, Link's house was a bit inset from the rest of the houses, so she could crawl over without being seen. He was now reading the note.

She snuck over and crawled through the hole. It was a tight squeeze, very tight. But she made it through.

"What happened to that boulder that liked to run Link over in the game?" She was now careful, having gotten practically run over by a Goron. But, even after she waited a few seconds, she neither saw nor heard it, so she continued to where the sword was hidden. She went up to the chest…

As she opened it, the light coming out was blinding. But it faded after a few seconds to reveal a short sword. Its hilt was simply wooden, and the sheath simple. But the blade was sharp; all she needed to live here. She went the other way around, where the rock would have normally rolled through. Luck, she thought after what came next.

Just as she was walking around the corner, Saria crawled in and walked to the empty chest. _What is she doing here?_ Meghan didn't waste any time. She quickly crawled out the hole and ran outside the Kokiri forest, the sword and sheath still clutched in her hand. She ran as fast as possible outside.

She kept running, although she was away from danger of being caught. On and on she ran, until she couldn't run anymore. She found herself not far away from the entrance to Lake Hylia. She leaned against a tree and sat down, the sword still in her hands.

_I've never stolen anything before, I…I…can't believe I did that._ Tears dripped down her face.

"_How did I get here? Why me?_" she whispered. She started crying. And crying. The tears did not stop, no matter what she did. She just sat there, next to a tree in the middle of Hyrule field, crying. Through her tears, she glanced at the sword clutched still in her hands. "How will I do this? How am I to survive? WHY?? Why do I have to put up with this stuff?"

She stood, tears still dripping from her eyes, and strapped the sword on her back.

"I will survive." She whispered as she took a few steps toward the middle of Hyrule field. "I can do this."

_Maybe_, her mind thought.

She ran across the field, but became tired about a quarter of the way there. She walked for a while, and then ran once she had her breath back. She ran, walked, and ran, until she was near Kakariko. But that's not where she was headed. She ran to where Hyrule castle town once was. Nearer to the castle, it became dark and the sun did not shine. She hoped over the broken bridge.

Past the man obsessed with ghosts she walked, finally reaching the abandoned town.

"Oh great. I forgot about the redeads." She stopped. They were crouched down, not yet noticing her. She thought she could sneak past them…

"If only I had an ocarina." Then she could have played the Sun's Song…if she knew how to play an ocarina!!!

"OK, One…two…three…I'll run past them on three…THREE!" She ran as fast as she could

"EEEEAHAHKKK!" The redead closest to her screamed. She froze, shaking she was so scared.

"Ah…ah…ah…" She breathed, so scared. She had to over come her fear…"Oh, go away!" she pleaded. The redead was nearer…and the others were drawing closer…

"Uh…shoo!" She broke from her scared, frozen state. She tried to draw the sword, but she was pulling it slightly sideways and it didn't come out. "Oh, great…don't scream again…" She ran toward the Temple of Time. She got up the stairs, and then walked past the gossip stones. She ran into the Temple.

Immediately upon her entrance, she felt calm and relaxed. _There was no need to run anymore, just to stand still_…she walked to a wall and leaned against it…_no reason to even stand, just to sit_…she sat against a pillar in the Temple…_no need to sit, just to lie down_…she lay down on her side with her back to the middle of the Temple…_no need to stay awake…just to…s…l…e…e…p…_

She could practically hear the deep voices singing the Song of Time as she gently nodded off to sleep…


	45. ↓History:Part Four↓ Lots of Trouble!

Yo! I'm back. This chapter is VERY, VERY, VERY long. Since there has been no school this week (I want to go back to school! Boo hoo…) I have been writing almost non-stop, except to eat, sleep, and play OoT and my new game: Soul Calibur II! That game rocks! I've tried to make the paragraphs a bit shorter than what they really are, for easier reading.

To Serenitythefaierikin- doesn't get into too much trouble? Believe me, Compared to this chapter, every other chapter is going to seem like he went to the mall! Not to give TOO much away, but she faces…let me count…four dangers of death in this chapter! Two of which may be 'mental' death if LINK KEEPS TORTURING HER! (No, just kidding. He would never do such a thing.) But he gets himself into trouble…(silly boy!) especially with Meghan! She can be a big piece of TROUBLE with mayonnaise on it if she wants! (Trust me, I know her…scary)

"Link! It's not there!" Saria cried as she ran towards Link.

"What? But why would it not be there?"

"I don't know. You don't think _he_ took it, do you?"

"No, I don't think Gannondorf could get into the forest."

"Do you think Meghan might have taken it?"

"I don't think she knows where it is either."

"But then where could it be?"

"I don't know, but we have more important matters to attend to. Like where Meghan is. We can't let her run around the way she is."

"Right. We'll go look at her. I'll look in the forest and at Lon Lon Ranch."

"And I'll look everywhere else. Good, let's go." He ran towards the entrance/exit of the forest into Hyrule field. Epona was still waiting around there. "Good girl." He said as he mounted. "Now, let's go!" He decided he would search Hyrule in a circle. First came Lake Hylia.

He entered the Lake Hylia area. He galloped around the perimeter of the dried-out lake, not finding anything except a few monsters, which he easily killed by running them over. He went on to Gerudo Valley.

Upon entering the desert region, he changed out of his Zora Tunic and put on the blood red Goron Tunic. He cantered into Gerudo Valley. He crossed the split log serving as a bridge across the shallow water running below it. He came to the main part of the Valley, using Epona to easily jump across the broken bridge. He led her into a gallop, and then asked her to gather her stride to make a long leap.

"Good girl," he praised. He cantered past the carpenters, or, the boss anyway. But then he thought, what if she had wondered into the Gerudo's Fortress and gotten caught? What would they do to her? He would have to persuade them into telling him if she was there. But how? And then he got an idea. He trotted quietly to the Stairs leading up to their fortress. He dismounted, and sneaked up the stairs. The Gerudo both had their backs turned, so he waited at the top of the stairs. Then one turned.

"Freeze!" she said running up to him and putting her scimitar against his neck. "You think just because you're a man you can sneak past us? Ha!"

"Wait, I have a bargain to make."

"We have no need for anything. You should have thought about that before you came in here."

"Not for my own safety, but to ensure the safety of another."

"Another? We have no others here, except us Gerudos!" she lied.

"No, I need to know if there is a girl here. Not a Gerudo girl, though."

"Why would we tell you if there was?"

"I told you, I'll bargain for it. I give up my own freedom. In exchange to know if she's here." Though he was not sure if this would work. If his plan were to succeed, they would have to take him to the jail. He knew, he had been captured once before while wondering aimlessly just after he aged seven years.

"I told you there is no one here." He wasn't sure if he believed them. "OK, I held up my end of the bargain, now it's your turn. Get moving!" another Gerudo came behind him and prodded him in the back with a sharp blade. He stumbled forward, almost hurting himself on the first Gerudo's scimitar. They laughed at his mishap.

They led him through the fort, and he saw familiar rooms so he relaxed, knowing they were going to take him to the jail. These were obviously either very strong fighters, or very foolish ones because they had not even bothered to take away his weapons. If he wanted, he could have run away or taken them, but it was easier to go this way. They dropped him into the hole in the floor, or ceiling depending which way you looked at it.

Instead of falling and hurting himself like he normally did…that hurt…he jumped before they could push him and landed in a crouched position, applying no damage. The Gerudos became suspicious as to why he went sold out his freedom and jumped in so willingly, ("All for a girl? Ha! Men aren't like that!" one of the Gerudos had said.) But their suspicions quickly passed. They yelled in at him:

"Stay in there, you scum! The only man who can survive around here is the great Gannondorf!" he winced at the title; whenever someone called him 'great' he always felt an emotional pain in his heart. The evil…

"No time to waste." He took out his longshot (remember, he's in the water temple) and aimed it at the wooden…thing…above the high up window. Once he was up in the window, he took a deep breath and jumped. Not on to the ground, but on one of the many levels of the fortress just to the left. He waited and watched until the guards on the bottom had all turned so they couldn't see him, then jumped and ran back to Epona. He quickly mounted and galloped away.

"So I know she's not there. I hope…" If he couldn't find her, he would go back and do a more thorough examination. He jumped over the broken bridge, and then cantered out of the valley and dessert.

"Next stop…uh…Hyrule Castle Town…or what's left of it. I don't think she would go there…or not." He said, once again speaking in Hylian. "Not my favorite place to go." Every time he went there, he could sense the evil not to far away, and seeing the town, torn up and deserted the way it was made him angry.

He cantered through Hyrule field. He realized that it was midday, and he started to get worried.

"She could have gotten into a lot of trouble by now…" Navi warned.

He pushed Epona into a gallop, making her whinny. "Sorry, I won't do it again. But, we need to hurry." As though she understood, Epona went faster without any horse-ly complaints. She was about running now. "Whoa! Not that fast!" But it was very rare that either of them got to go fast, so they stayed like that. He was almost enjoying himself…when he remembered…

"NO!" he scolded himself, weeks of sword training discipline coming back to him. This, he reminded himself, was business.

Soon they arrived at the town. Epona slowed down near it, and became very afraid. She backed up, rolling here eyes.

"Whoa! Epona, it's alright." The sudden darkness had scared her. He dismounted carefully and stood in front of the horse to comfort her. She relaxed at his touch. "Alright, you can leave now. Just come back when I call you. It shouldn't take long." He faced her towards the open field and gave her a slight nudge where her front leg met her body. (It would be like an…armpit for a lack of a better word…) She ran off, happy to get away. Link ran inside the Town.

As soon as he reached the main part of the town, he got that evil feeling emanating from each of the redeads…He wanted nothing more than to slash and kill each of them…but he resisted the urge. He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts and ran past them. At the age he was, he no longer feared them.

"It's good to be old."

Under normal circumstances, Link would have left, seeing that Meghan wasn't there, but he had this strange feeling. He could always feel the evil around here, but for once it wasn't all completely evil. He sensed some good, coming from somewhere…

"She's here. I just know it." He ran to the first place he thought of, the Temple of Time.

Meghan had been having a fitful rest. Her sleep was interrupted with dreams of death and despair…perhaps the influence of being so close to such a great evil.

The first dream she remembered was of a dark blade, meeting one that shone with light. Something was there…

The second was a girl crying. She couldn't see the face because when she walked up to it the dream changed…

The third was a golden light shining from a fountain, almost taking the forms of humans…or Hylians depending on the way you looked at it. They were talking to a white light…

_"I am sorry for the trouble caused…let it be known that the gods will never fight again."_

_"Yes, human god. I, Nayru pledge to that."_

_**"As do I, Din."**_

**"And I, Farore."**

_"I will take back the trouble caused for you…the girl…"_

_**"I don't believe she causes any trouble. This girl will only be troubled if tossed back to the human world…"**_

_"It was foolish of me to think that a human girl could cause trouble in your world. You have such great heroes…though, mine at the moment has none."_

_"Do not despair, Human God, it was foolish on all our parts. Come now, she will be happier here, I assure you."_

**"Yes, she will be happier here. The time will come for the decision to be made…let her experience some good in her life before pulled away. Besides, I see something starting…between a human and a Hylian…"**

_"Then the girl shall stay. Farore was in charge of what came here in the beginning…let her retain her job."_

_"Fine. I shall allow her to stay, providing she does not show you any trouble. Then, and only then, she must leave. Thank you, Goddesses of Hyrule, Nayru, Din, and Farore…"_

She did not understand any of this, except a part spoken by a male voice…quite deep yet assuring. It was all a different language. But, the dream resumed to horror…

A bit away, in woods near Kakariko, Sheik awoke quite suddenly. Or, Zelda I should say.

"The gods! They had a fight! How could they? They let a human here!" Zelda whispered, still in her disguise. Her voice was a bit deeper, her hair shorter and eyes red, but she still had the occasional prophecy. Usually she could tell if she was foreseeing good or bad events…but this one came unclear. She had to find this human…it could not stay around here, either way. It had to be destroyed. She stealthily packed up her camp, not waking Impa.

"I'll be back." She whispered before disappearing.

Link went up the steps two at a time, not that there were many. He passed the gossip stones. He started to walk as he went up the steps. He always did, it was a sacred place to be. He slowly pushed the front doors open as he entered.

As soon as he entered, he saw nothing or no one, but then he looked closer. A girl was sleeping against one of the pillars to the left, occasionally shuddering or tossing and turning. He walked as fast as he dared to her. She was obviously in pain from her dreams. He kneeled beside her. Tears flowed unconsciously from her eyes, and her head glistening from sweat. Her eyes squeezed tight then relaxed every few seconds. She was lying on her side now, her head propped on her arm which was extended outward.

He gently touched her. Her arm was cold and now since he was closer he could tell that she was also shivering. He had to wake her, to get her to some warmth. She shuddered at his touch. He gently shook her. She stopped shuddering and relaxed into a more normal sleep, but was still shivering.

He shook her again. She was still for a second. Then her eyes slowly opened. Taking into focus what was before her, she shot up into a sitting position. Before he could react, she had her arms around him, crying. She was once again shivering. He didn't know what to do; she was just crying…helplessly he tried to comfort her awkwardly.

"There, there." He said, in Hylian. But the strange language made her even more upset and she sobbed even harder.

"Please, I don't know what you're saying…I don't want to be here…bring me back home…"

"I…don't know how…I'm sorry…but we'll find out how. I promise."

"Are you sure?" she said, letting go. She started shivering again. She started coughing violently.

"I will." He said. "But for now…you look sick." It was true. Her face was pale; she was covered with goose bumps. "Maybe you should come with me."

"I can't. I'm just a burden. I'll stay here. It's fine.

"No, you're shivering. Don't try to hide it."

"Um…I am? Oh, right."

"Come on. Back to the Kokiris, I can't leave you here."

"O-ok." They both stood.

"Put this on." He took a green thing from his pocket…or somewhere…you never know where all these things come from. (Wink) I like to call them the endless pockets. He put it over her shoulders. It was a tunic. "I have like twenty of them…this one is new."

"Thanks." She said, thankful for the warmth. She felt sick, and became dizzy with each step. She stumbled a bit, walking awkwardly while trying to hide it. She unconsciously put her hand to her head.

"Meghan…are you alright?"

"Yeah…I'm fine…I think…oh, my head…" she put both of her hands to her head. It felt like an immense brain freeze.

"You don't look fine." He walked up to her. "Let me help you."

"No, I'm fine. I can do this." She took another unbalanced step. He took her arm and put it around his shoulder. He felt the iciness of her arm on his neck, but ignored it. He needed to get her home. She swayed and then leaned on to him because she lost her balance at his sudden move. He assisted her to walk out into the day, where the sun shone down and warmed her a bit. Then he felt something hit against his neck…and realized she had the Kokiri sword strapped on her back.

"_So you do have it_," he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You said something."

"I just said 'the sun is shining.'"

"Whatever." But she didn't feel well enough to tell him that she knew he didn't say that.

"Meghan, when we go into the town, don't be scared of the redeads. They're not real. We can't stop now."

"I'll try." She said halfheartedly, the dizziness getting to her.

"Alright. Here we go." They went down the stairs, into the town. Meghan saw the redeads. "Can you run?"

"I'll try…" he picked up his speed. Meghan did too, but not by much. She was half dragged past them. And then…

"EEEEAAACCKKK!" a close-by redead screamed. Meghan froze, then remembered.

FLASHBACK

"Meghan, when we go into the town, don't be scared of the redeads. They're not real. We can't stop now."

She broke free of the fear and started running as fast as her throbbing head would let her. She was still slow, though, but they made it through.

Meghan and Link got into the safe zone, in the area where the poe collector was. They walked to the collapsed bridge slowly. He jumped over first. He extended his hand out to her.

"Take my hand." She was, once again, too sick and tired to be skeptical of a boy. She her hand grasped his and it was surrounded by a strong, but gentle grip. She jumped lightly over, mostly held by his strong arm. She reached the other side and was balanced by him. They walked a few steps, her hand still in his. He looked back for a second, thinking he saw something. _Could it be? No, it can't_

He took out his ocarina, calling his faithful horse to his side. He very gently helped her to mount, and she relaxed as soon as she could sit still. He mounted.

"Now, Epona…" he said, preparing to go fast when…

"Link, please. Please, don't go fast. I don't feel good."

"So now you admit it?" she gasped, realizing what she had just said. But she also realized that it was no use lying.

"Yeah. I feel terrible…my head hurts, I'm dizzy…the list goes on."

"That's OK, we'll be there soon anyway." He pushed Epona into a slow canter. Had she not warned him, he would have gone into a gallop, perhaps putting too much strain on both Epona and Meghan.

Meghan wanted to lean in and gather his warmth, but his Shield and sword were in the way. They offered nothing but cold. So, she put her hands around his waist, keeping her face out of the shield so the metal-coldness wouldn't touch her.

Link felt her arms, but was concentrating on getting Epona there as fast as possible. He steered her on the quickest path back to the forest. As soon as they got there, Link dismounted and helped Meghan dismount as well.

"Uhhh…" she groaned, feeling worse now that she had to stand again. Link once again pulled her arm around his shoulder and half carried her inside the forest. He took her to the area where his and Saria's house was located. Saria saw them through her doorway and ran outside to help.

"Link! What happened to her?"

"She's sick, and she need to rest."

"Take her in my house, hurry! Put her on my bed!" Link did as he was told. She once again was shivering.

"The poor girl! Link, hurry! Get me those blankets in the corner." He got two of the blankets. Saria removed the sword from her back. Saria felt Meghan's head. She expected fever, but it was worse. She was cold as ice. She put both the blankets on Meghan as she lay down. Meghan felt better now that she was lying down, but she was still freezing and her head still hurt a bit. She coughed violently again. She was so tired, even after her sleep. She had had a fitful sleep. She fell asleep in not very long. Saria stayed at her side, occasionally tucking the blanket in when she turned. Link also stayed. He sat there for a while. Finally, Saria looked up.

"So, where did you find her?" she asked in Hylian.

"At the Temple of Time."

"No wonder she's so cold…it gets cold in there sometimes. Do you know why she was there?"

"She was sleeping. She didn't look good from the moment I saw her…she was tossing and shivering and looked uncomfortable. Then I woke her and she started to cry…and then she was really cold…and pale…and I really didn't know what to do…I was kinda panicking…she didn't look good at all…"

"OK! I get it. You did the right thing to bring her here."

"I had hoped so."

"Too bad you didn't find her earlier. Where did you look?"

"First I went to Lake Hylia, then to Gerudo Valley…" he explained what he did at Gerudo Valley. To which he got this response:

"Link! That was a reckless act on your part. You not only put her in danger, but more importantly yourself! We barely know this girl!"

"Yeah, I know Saria, but I had to! It was the only way and the quickest at that. I had to."

"Well, I guess it worked and that's all that matters."

Link silently thought _Note to self: don't tell Saria anything that involves me getting hurt._

They sat in silence for a while. Then Saria moved and put her hand on Meghan's head. The hypothermic-like temperature had resided into a fever.

"At least she is warm."

"What happened?"

"She has a fever now."

"A fever? But…"

"Don't worry, she's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Sages don't lie." She said, winking at him.

"Alright, I guess."

"You know, you don't have to stay here. I'll be fine."

"But, I want to."

"No, It's OK. Go, I'm sure you have things to do."

"I'll come back later."

"Bye."

"Bye." He left Saria, and went outside the forest. For a while, he thought he would go back to the Water Temple, to finish off Morpha, that's all he had left to do. But he realized that he wasn't in a mood to do that. He would surely mess up, and then where would Hyrule be? Better to have a procrastinating hero than a deceased one. No, he was too distracted with his thoughts. He unconsciously pulled out his ocarina while thinking this and called Epona to his side. She came within seconds and he mounted, just realizing what he had done.

"What? Oh, right." He let the reins relax, surprising Epona. She whinnied, as if asking what he was doing. "Epona, just go wherever. I'm lost right now." And so, Epona went, galloping across the field. And he just sat, thinking things.

_Who is this girl? Why do I feel so attached to her? It's like I've met her. But I don't think I have, and she just got here. But what if she can't get home? And what if she does? Will she be just a memory, or something more? I feel…I have no idea. What do I feel? Do I feel anything anymore? These days, I have to be so tough, and I have to be the savior of Hyrule, yet did I have a choice? WHAT AM I THINKING? Of course, I wanted to help Hyrule! Aaaaaah! THIS IS MESSING UP MY HEAD!!! What am I supposed to do?_

"Epona, stop. Whoa, girl." They were halfway through the field. She stopped, and he dismounted. "Don't ask me what I'm doing, I have no idea. But I'm going somewhere…" He pulled out the ocarina, thought for a second, and then played Zelda's Lullaby. The soft tune relaxed him for a bit, letting him think clearly.

"OK, now what do I do? Any suggestions, Epona?" Epona nickered and tossed her head to the sides. "That's OK. I think I got it now. I Think I know what to do! I think…ok, we need to go back! It's dark now." So, he mounted once again, and this time actually steered Epona somewhere. He brought her back to the forest.

"This time, I have no idea when I'll be back." He entered the forest, ocarina in hand. He entered Saria's house quietly.

"Back so soon? I thought you were going to come back LATER, not in twenty-five minutes."

"Yeah, I know but I got this idea. If Zelda's Lullaby can help ME relax, then why won't it work on Meghan?"

"Good idea! Let me play with you." Saria got her ocarina from her pocket. Link kneeled down near the bed and started playing the song. Saria came in, making the song a round. Then, the second time Saria played a relaxing harmony to it, making the song even more beautiful. They both stopped after about five repetitions of the song. Both of them felt relaxed, and when they looked at Meghan she no longer looked strained and shivering, but relaxed and having a good rest.

"Good. I'll be back…I promise."

"Alright see you later."

"Oh, and Saria, I…have something for her at my house. Um, I'll…bring it…" He left for a few minutes, and then returned with a bundle of something.

"Yeah…I've got to go." He said, dumping it into Saria's hand. "Bye!" he hurriedly ran out the door. Saria opened it.

"Oh." She said, smiling as she looked inside. "Alright, bye." Saria sat back down, finding something to read. Books are always good in these situations.

MEANWHILE

Sheik (Zelda) had been searching Hyrule. Cheating and using some of her magic, she tracked down the human energies. It was around…her old castle.

"What is the human doing there?" she asked herself. She teleported to the old town. She climbed up the wall separating the town from Hyrule field, where the old drawbridge used to be. From her position, she saw two people coming from the Temple. She couldn't see whom. Just two figures, but were attached somehow. What? No, that wasn't right. As they walked closer, she could make out two different, unattached beings.

Using a magic spell, Zelda conjured up some binocular-type things to see them better. She could tell one of them was Link…typical. But the other, she had never seen in her life. She noticed the ears. They looked like a Gerudo's ears…but the rest of the characteristics were completely different. Instead of bright, red hair and a long nose, she had black- no, dark brown hair, a rounder, shorter nose than Hylians AND Gerudos. Her eyes were not green, but brown. Could this be a person from Termina? No, that couldn't be right…wait! This must be the human! Is this what they look like? Strange.

Now they were in the town. Then she heard it, a faint "EAAACCKKKK!" sound. The little girl froze, startling Link as he was running past them while helping her. He pulled her hand, and she broke free.

"Wow, the humans are quick at that." She whispered. They ran closer. Sheik lowered the binoculars as they drew closer. She drew her weapons- twin elbow swords. (I was playing Soul Calibur II and was inspired by Talim! That's a great game, I recommend it, it comes on all game systems, only Link is only in the gamecube version. Which is the one I have Duh) The girl was lagging behind Link…she realized she was very weak. She could tell from the way she held herself, drooping and not standing straight and leaning mostly on him. She realized also that this girl was in no condition to harm Hyrule, or attempt to. She probably didn't even want to. She didn't want to pick on a helpless girl, though Link would most likely defend her. She sheathed her weapons in her sheaths, which were camouflaged to match her outfit using magic. They passed under her. He helped the girl jump over the water. She stumbled on the other side, and then got caught by Link. He looked up for a second. Sheik backed up, and they walked away.

He called Epona, and they mounted. She said something to him, and he said something back. Then they went.

Sheik jumped down, landing in a crouched position. As soon as they were far, Sheik followed them. She could run fast, and quiet at the same time. She followed them all the way to the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. Once she entered that area, she climbed the tree that Kaepora Gaebora once greeted Link, seven long years ago. She watched silently as they dismounted and entered the forest. He once again helped her to walk, this time she barely walked at all. As soon as they entered the forest, Sheik jumped down quietly. She waited a few seconds; to be sure, they weren't coming back out. Then she stealthily ran inside. Once in the forest, she jumped on top of one of the houses. She watched as they went inside…Saria's house? Now Saria was aiding the human? She would have to keep a close eye on the girl…she didn't want her harming a sage…though she probably couldn't. A little while later, Link exited the house alone. He ran to the exit of the forest and disappeared in it. Sheik jumped down and followed. When she reached Hyrule field, he was already galloping away on Epona. She ran a bit behind him. He stopped about halfway through the field. She took a wide turn and hid behind the short stonewall thing in the middle of the field. He dismounted, looking very tired and confused. He hesitated for a moment and then took out the Ocarina of Time. He played her song. She realized that he was in a dilemma. She used some of her magic to relax him…always good for a friend! He seemed less confused as he stroked Epona's head. He asked her:

"OK, now what do I do? Any suggestions, Epona?" Epona nickered and tossed her head to the sides. "That's OK. I think I got it now. I Think I know what to do! I think…ok, we need to go back! It's dark now." So, he mounted once again, and steered Epona back to the forest. She followed him once again. When they reached it, she followed him. He went inside Saria's house. Sheik Climbed Link's house and sat at the top. A minute later, she heard her song again. This time, it was two ocarinas. One with a rich, deep sound and one with a light, bouncy sound. Each was beautiful. They played as a round and harmony, then stopped. Sheik practically was begging them to go on. Then Link exited, and went to his house. She backed up to where he couldn't see her. She heard him climbing the ladder, and then entering (To which he got a MOOOOOO!)

"Remind me to move this cow somewhere else."

Then he came back out, with something in his hands. He descended, entered Saria's house, and then came back out, running. He went away. Sheik decided NOT to follow him for once. Though she wanted to. No, she would watch the human. But, the girl didn't seem like too much of a threat, so she decided to come back tomorrow and find her. She ran away, back to Impa. She would leave the interrogation to another day.

Saria Waited, reading her book. She sat faithfully by the side of the girl, eventually wanting sleep but not letting herself. She leaned back against the wall of her house and closed her eyes just for a second…

"Saria, wake up." Link was there, gently waking her. "You can go rest, I'll watch her."

"What? OH! I fell asleep! Oh, is she OK? How could I?"

"It's fine. She's fine, Saria."

"Oh, good. Are you sure you can watch her? I can do it."

"Yes, I'm fine with it."

"OK, I'll be back." She exited the house. Once outside, she turned herself into the orb of light, green in her case, which Sages use to travel faster. One of the first things she learned she could do when she learned she was one. She returned to the Sacred Realm, in the Chamber of the Sages.

"Meghan…" Link said. Truthfully, he had no idea what to do. He just sat by her side. He got bored. He was tempted to wake her, to ask her questions, but he knew she needed to sleep. He leaned closer to examine her face. He studied her-definitely not a Zora, Goron, or Kokiri. But she couldn't be anything else either. He didn't know what else, until he remembered what she had said yesterday…or maybe two days ago by now. _She's from…Nearth? Or was it Hearth? No! Wait, its Earth! That must mean she's Earthian. Or something like that._

He's clueless.

"_Is that it_?" he whispered in her ear, as though she could hear him. "_Are you Earthian?_"

Her features were different than any other life form in Hyrule. Her nose was shorter than his, or anybody else's for that matter. Her ears were like the Gerudos, but not quite so big. She was a bit taller than an average Hylian girl at that age, but still shorter than him. (Thank goodness)

Her long, dark brown hair seemed almost a black color, but he knew it wasn't. It was sprawled around her head. He wanted to fix it, but he was afraid to touch her at all or he might wake her up. She looked younger than him, but not by much. He estimated about 14-16, but which one he wasn't sure.

One thing he was sure about was she was pretty. Maybe not overly-I-don't-care-about-anything-but-my-good-looks-pretty, but pretty.

He sat normal again. He found a book on Saria's table, next to the sword. He picked the sword up, just for old time's sake, and realized just how light it was, at least compared to the Master Sword. He replaced it in the sheath, and then took the book. It was entitled _Hyrule in a Glance_. He had heard of it, but now he never had time to read anymore. (Yes, everybody. I am portraying Link as a book reading, emotional, crying, confused, good looking, strong, but gentle, disciplined, naïve, nerdy, weirdo teenager. Enjoy while I stare in awe at my creation. I am crying, it's so beautiful. Or, should I say, HE is beautiful.)

He sat back and started reading the book. It was sort of like a biography of Hyrule (if that's possible) but put into a plot, like an adventure. (Add adventurous to my long list of Link-describing words above)

He got entangled in the interesting plot of the book, not even realizing how long he had been reading, until the sun started to poke through the window. He was probably about halfway through the book, good. He wouldn't have much time to read it other times; especially considering it was Saria's book. He put the book down. He looked over toward Meghan. She was lying on her side (again) with her face to him.

"_You like to sleep, don't you." _He whispered. A few seconds later, Saria returned.

"Hi."

"Hi. I came to relieve you of 'Meghan watching duty.'"

"What? Oh, I don't mind. I read your book, I hope YOU don't mind."

"Not at all." Then suddenly Meghan moved.

"Hide me!" Link said as he jumped behind Saria. O.o. (Add comedian to my list.)

"OOOOOOKKKKKKK…" Saria gave him a weird look. (That was a VERY random part.)

"Uhhh…what happened?" Meghan said as she sat up. Saria walked over to her. "AHHH! Attack of the midgets!!!"

"It's ok, Meghan. I don't wish to hurt you. What happened was you got sick." Link jumped out from behind Saria.

"Yeah, you were very sick."

"But how did I get here?"

"You don't remember?"

"No…Wait! Yes I do! I stole the sword!!! I'm sorry!!!!"

"That's OK." Saria said, laughing.

"But…no! I've never stolen anything in my life! Bad me!" She sat there and scolded herself. They watched on in complete terror.

"Is she OK?"

"Obviously not."

**OK, all that never happened. I'm just in a hyper mood. This is what really happened:**

"_You like to sleep, don't you." _He whispered. A few seconds later, Saria returned.

"Hi."

"Hi. I came to relieve you of 'Meghan watching duty.'"

"What? Oh, I don't mind. I read your book, I hope YOU don't mind."

"Not at all." Then suddenly Meghan moved.

"Uhhh…what happened?" Meghan said as she sat up. Saria walked over to her. She looked at the two strange people in the room.

"Why am I here?"

"You got very sick."

"Yeah, you were very sick."

"But how did I get here?"

"You don't remember?"

"No…Wait! Yes I do! I stole the sword!!! I'm sorry!!!!"

"That's OK." Saria said, laughing.

"But…no! I've never stolen anything in my life!"

"No, really. We were going to give it to you anyway."

"I'm still sorry…I should go now…I need to get back home." She stood up and stretched. "Wait…I thought I was sick."

"You were, but Zelda's Lullaby healed you."

"It did?"

"Yes. Wait, you know what it is, right?"

"Yup. But I didn't know it could heal."

"Yes, it does. And it puts you to sleep, too."

"Cool. Well, like I said, I need to go."

"No." Link said, standing in front of the door.

"What? Please, let me go."

"I can't. I said I would help you get back home. You're not going anywhere." Meghan felt the tears welling in her eyes.

"But…I…want…to…go…" she said through clenched teeth, trying not to cry.

"Shh, shh. We'll have none of that." Saria comforted. "No more tears." Meghan felt strangely comforted by the short girl.

"You'll have to stay with us, it's dangerous out there."

"But I know what it's all like. I told you, you guys are from a video game."

"No, I'm afraid you're mistaken, Meghan." Link said. "I'm real. Saria's real. Even…Gannondorf is real." He said the last part slowly and quietly. As much as he wished that it were Meghan's way with Gannondorf, he knew it wasn't true.

_Why can't she understand that we're real? What exactly is this video game thing she keeps telling us about_? He thought.

_Why am I here? Why can't I get back home? Why don't they believe me? Why won't they let me go? I WANT TO GO! _She thought So much she believed that she really did want to go, (Which wasn't entirely true. There was a part that was scared of even leaving Link's presence) that she tricked her mind into thinking that these were bad people.

"You sick people! Let me go!" She said, as she tried to get out the door. Link moved aside, but within a split second of her moving out the doorway, he had her wrist in a tight grip. She stopped. "LET GO!" she struggled against his strong grip and tried to get free, but soon realized that this was a swordsman's iron grip, it didn't let go for anything. She sank to her knees.

"What do you want from me?" she cried. He kneeled down.

"It's OK. I don't want anything. I don't want to hurt you. I would never hurt an innocent person."

"Then why won't you let me go?? LET GO!" she tried to pull free again, but to no avail.

"I won't let you go because I don't want you to get hurt."

"You're hurting me." She said, looking at her hand. It didn't really hurt; she just wanted him to let go.

"I know it doesn't hurt."

"Yes it does."

"I told you I wouldn't hurt you." Meghan became angered. She quickly got into a crouched position, and then swung her foot in an attempt to knock him over. He thought quickly and jumped up. Even with this distraction, he did not let go. Meghan stood.

"Don't make me hurt YOU."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"LINK! MEGHAN!" Came a voice from the corner. "You two are immature…blah blah blah…." Saria went on. Link finally let go, but Meghan didn't attempt to go anywhere.

"Sorry Saria."

"That's OK, Meghan. I know you're scared, but some things can't be helped. Now, Link. You, go. You're upsetting her."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Now, leave us be. Thank you for watching her. We'll get you later."

"O-o-kk, I'll…see you. Bye, Saria. Bye, Meghan."

"Bye, Link." Saria said. Meghan didn't respond. Once he had left, Meghan turned to Saria.

"Thanks. I guess he was kinda upsetting me."

"No problem. But Meghan, you know he would never hurt anyone. You must learn to understand that."

"Oh, Saria. I know that. But, it's just SO weird here, different. I'm really, really, sorry. The stress is getting to me…"

"It's all OK, Meghan. I would expect you to be upset, particularly after getting over a sickness like you had last night."

"Was I really that sick? I mean, I guess I was, since I can't really remember, but why don't I remember? That's not like any other sickness, at least that I had had on earth."

"To tell the truth, I have no idea either."

"Strange."

"Oh, yes. Now, I need you to get changed out of that dreadfully cold outfit."

"Cold? I'm not cold anymore."

"But eventually, you will be."

"OK, but I don't have anything to change into anyway."

"Don't worry, I…I mean, LINK got you clothes."

"He…what?" her heart almost stopped. _Why…did a BOY get me…?_

"Don't worry. It's just Link. He's the biggest sweetie in the whole land. Who would have thought…him to be the wielder of the master sword? He'd do anything for anybody…except, of course, if they were evil…" she took the bundle from a corner in the house. She handed it to Meghan.

"Open it." Meghan sat on the bed and put it in her lap as she opened it. Inside she found a black, sort of stretchy material long sleeved shirt. It looked like it would fit. Then she found another with a slightly different design, though almost the same. She found a pair of black pants, made of some weird material she had never felt before. It was cool. Then a pair of long, white gloves. (He must have noticed her gloves that she still had on.) Then a white shirt. (Had she not told him she only wore black? _Oh, well_, she thought) and another pair of black pants. The material was almost jean-like, but more stretchy, sort of, and softer feeling. They all looked about the right size. (Which sort of made her uncomfortable…)

The last thing in the package was the thing she liked the most. It was a long, black cloak, made for the cold, like a jacket. Like a princess's…it had a hood and stitched on the front was a golden Triforce. It buttoned up in the front with black, shiny buttons. The bottom was trimmed with gold thread; it was beautiful…

It wasn't the sort of thing that anybody wore where she came from, but obviously, it was fashionable there because:

"Meghan, you're so lucky! He must have spent quite a bit on that! And all those other clothes…where does he get all this money?"

_I know, _she thought_, he just…finds it! What an idiot I am! He spends all this money…from what Saria says…on me, and I treat him like a common criminal! Why???? WHY WHY WHY????_

"Is it really that expensive? I should return it and get a cheaper one…"

"Goddesses, no, don't! They know he has nothing else to spend his money on…"

"No, I will. If only I knew WHERE he got it from."

"If it's where I think, then you won't be able to return it anyway."

"Why not?"

"They don't let you."

"Are you sure?"

"Sages don't lie."

"I knew that." Meghan returned to looking at it. It was made of a very light material, yet she could tell that it was very warm. When she moved it, it flowed in the air for a second before gravity (Or something else in Hyrule) pulled it down.

She thought it would be cool to wear, until she thought of wearing it before _him_. She thought she could die of embarrassment if she did. _Whoever thought of a stranger (A cute stranger) buying somebody who they barely knew clothes? Why am I calling him cute?_

"Meghan?" Saria drove her out of her thoughts. "Meghan, I'm going to leave. You can get dressed; I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Please, don't go anywhere."

"Me? Oh, I won't." And she was serious. Saria seemed so nice; she didn't really mind her.

"OK." She said, as she closed the curtains to the windows. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Meghan began to reconsider even changing. She studied the clothes. She calculated that she would have 12 combinations of clothes. (Including the ones she was wearing) She picked out a pair of pants, and the first black shirt she had looked at. Was she really going to change, and then let Link see her? That would practically be giving in. No, she couldn't. But then, she would be letting Saria down. She couldn't do that either. She hesitated. Then decided:

_Hate counts towards a lot. But do I really hate him? More like, dislike. I Like Saria; she's nice and munificent. I guess like overpowers dislike._

So, in regard for Saria's feelings, and not her own or Link's, she decided to change.

First, she put the pants on. They fit perfect, showing her shape. She studied herself in the mirror. She didn't like tight pants. She thought they made girls look silly, trying to fit their hole lower body into pants that barely fit. She usually wore comfortable, if not baggy, jeans. But these weren't like that. They fit just right, not too tight, and not too baggy.

Then she put the shirt on. The soft, silky material looked like it would automatically fit any form. It looked as though it was made to be worn with a skirt, but she didn't care. A ribbon, she realized, held the back of the shirt together. It went three-quarters of the way down the shirt, laced up like a shoe (For a lack of better words) and needed to be tied at the top.

She slipped the shirt on. The end of the sleeve was flared out the tiniest bit. The front of the shirt had a design in black flowing throughout the shirt, the most intricate pattern she had ever seen on a piece of clothing.

She examined herself in the mirror again. The back of the shirt needed to be tied, it was drooping down. She tried to reach it, but couldn't. It came a little bit down her back, making it so she could not reach. She held it tight, in the back, just to see what it looked like. The front of the shirt came down about 2 inches from her collarbone, and had a sort of square-ish cut-off. A comfortable length, and the sleeves were the right size, at least the kind she liked.

In all, the outfit kind of cancelled out her normal half-gothic style, but she had to admit it was a good change. Maybe Link did have a good taste in clothes. One good thing on her list. (And yet another to add to mine!) But he still didn't qualify.

She lifted the curtains to one of window to see if Saria was around. She saw her walking toward the house. Good. She would have to ask her to tie it.

She stuck her head out the doorway. Saria walked to her.

"Saria, can you help me?"

"What is it, Meghan?" she said as she entered.

"I need you to tie this." She moved her hair and pointed to her back.

"Of course. But…I can't…"

"Oh, right." Meghan kneeled down to her height.

"Thank you," She tied the shirt nice and tight in a pretty bow on her back. Then she double knotted it. (Just to be sure.) Meghan stood up straight, very straight and examined herself now. It actually came down farther than she thought…and a bit more than she would have liked, but she would deal with it. She pulled it up a bit.

"You look very nice." Saria complemented.

"Thank you…very much." She looked for something she could compliment on Saria, but she knew complimenting after another compliment always makes it sound corny and not from the heart. So she waited.

A/N- Now for some interesting info from the author, ME!

This chapter ALONE is 24 ½ pages long on Microsoft Word.

The story is 65 pages long. (I'm obsessed)

I didn't have breakfast this morning

As you know already, for the last couple of days I've been COMPLETELY hyper (Not the mood exactly to be in for this story)

I don't like Gannondorf, or cheese for that matter.


	46. ↓History: Part five↓

Bonjour tout le monde! (That's French for 'hello everybody!') Je suis trés hyperactif! (I am VERY hyper) Pardon! (Excuse my hyper-ness) Moi, Je ne sais la raison pour laquelle! (I don't know the reason why!)

After she got changed, Saria gave her an extra hairbrush she had. Meghan brushed her hair while talking to Saria. She realized, for the first time, just how long her hair was. It just brushed the chair she sat on. Although it was long, she trimmed it and kept the bottom even. (My hair is like that…only I have about an inch to go before it hits a chair!)

"So just how old are you?" Saria asked Meghan.

"Fifteen. I'll be sixteen in a about month, but does time flow the same here? I wonder."

"I wouldn't know, I've never been to your world. But that's a nice age to be at, isn't it?"

"Most would say so. I guess you do get your independence. (Most of the time) But I don't really like it."

"Just some advice…enjoy being young while you are. Though I never age, I have seen Link age through the years. Although he was just a spirit in the Sacred Realm, his body needed to go somewhere!"

"What did you do with it?" Meghan said, wide-eyed. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. (A/N- I don't think I do either!)

"Easy solution. Rauru put it in the Chamber of the Sages for seven years and didn't open it until seven years later, when his spirit went back in it."

"I wouldn't want anybody to do that to me!" She said, hugging herself jokingly.

"That exactly why Rauru didn't tell him. And we're not supposed to tell either…but since you asked…just don't tell him, promise?"

"I promise." This information was a goldmine; she could just imagine herself next time she saw Link:

_"I know something you don't know!"_

_"What?"_

_"I'm not telling! HAHAHAHAHA!" _

**Perfect. **She felt like a little kid again, yet another perfect thing.

"So, do you know how old Link is?"

"Yes, he's seventeen." (A/N-this is a mystery…some say seventeen, some say eighteen, but when you ask the dude himself, it's SEVENTEEN!)

"Wow, that's cool." She had always thought him to be around that age, but didn't know for sure. Another thing to taunt him with:

_"Haha, old man!!!"_

_"I'm not old!"_

_"OLD GEEZER!"_

_"If I'm so old, then how old are you?" SMACK! Link puts his hand to his cheek._

_"**NEVER** ASK A GIRL HER AGE!! (Or her weight…)"_

**A third perfect thing.** She showed a look of triumph on her face.

"What is it?" Saria inquired.

"Oh, nothing…"

"If you're planning anything…"

"Nope, not planning!" Saria showed a smile.

"You're not going to…"

"What am I going to do?"

"Just, whatever you do, promise me one thing?"

"Sure."

"Don't take away so much dignity that he can't save Hyrule because he can't show his face in public anymore."

"Don't worry…I'll keep it below that level…_though not by much._"

"You wouldn't!"

"I would." She winked at Saria. Saria gave a fake surprised face and pulled a pillow off the bed. Meghan grabbed one too.

"Don't." Saria said, sarcastically, of course.

"I'm going to! Mwahahaha!" Saria hit her with the pillow. Meghan put hers in her face to defend. Then Meghan took a whack at Saria, who put her hands up to block. They had a pillow fight.

"Heehee!"

"Heehee!" they both giggled the whole time. They were like great friends who had known each other their whole lives. Though in the reality only met two days ago.

They must have been making a racket, because Link, who happened to be coming in the forest at this time, heard the entire ruckus in Saria's house. Sheik, too, was coming to check out the human again. Expecting the worse, Link ran to the house and enter. A hard blow, meant for Saria, and a hard one, meant for Meghan, both came down on Link. By the time they had realized whom they had hit; they were both on the floor laughing their brains out. Saria fell on her back, laughing towards the sky and Meghan had kneeled down, legs bent but out each side in that backwards-pretzel style that you're not supposed to sit in. They both laughed as Link put his hand on his head.

"Ow, that hurt!" He said as he rubbed it. It wasn't like getting hit with something solid, but like a smack on the head. Not that he'd ever been smacked.

Now, Saria was just giggling, and Meghan was only laughing because she was happy he got hurt! Maybe now she didn't have to smack him…but she would just because anyway! But she would do it later, so the pain would last longer. (Who would have thought that she once hated him this much?)

The stopped giggling after a while. Looking at him, Meghan could tell he was embarrassed. Then for a second, she felt almost sorry for him. And THEN she remembered she had the clothes on. She looked down at herself. Link followed the gaze and saw. He blushed. And for once, Meghan didn't hate him. (Or dislike, whatever.) She felt embarrassed too, but she didn't really blush. She never did; she just couldn't.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, not smiling anymore. He grinned mischievously.

"That's OK."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Saria said, still smiling.

"What am I talking about? I'm sorry too!" He said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. About before…I really didn't mean to…"

"Hurt me? No, I'm sorry. I lied…it didn't really hurt. I'm so sorry. What an idiot I am!!!!!!" she said, feeling the embarrassment of being caught in her own lie.

"No, please," He said, putting his hands up. "Don't call yourself an idiot, because you know perfectly well you're not."

"I…I…thank you." She stuttered. Link had a look of confusion on his face.

"What for?"

"For everything." She said, standing. "For…saving me, for giving me a place to stay…you too Saria…"

"You're welcome."

"And, of course for these clothes." She added as a joke. Link turned red again. Just a little, not like his whole face. Just a bit. It was…cute.

"Heh heh…" he laugh nervously, then got his mischievous smile again. " So you lied to me?"

"What?" Meghan said, not realizing it was a joke. _What…but I thought he forgave me? What??? _"I'm sorry…I didn't know what to do…I was stressed and I was scared and I-"

"Hey! It was a joke!" He said, chuckle. "Slow down!"

"What!??" she said, slowly realizing. "It was just…but then…you…" she almost said idiot, but then took on her own mischievous smile. " You…you know what?" she said, utilizing the information she recently learned. "I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON"T KNOW!"

"Meghan…Don't…" Saria said between giggles. "Don't…tell…him…Hee…hee…Don't…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I'm sure you know lots I don't know." Meghan was shocked. _He…doesn't care? THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO WORK!_

"You don't want to know?"

"Of course I do, but if I had everything I wanted, I wouldn't have this sword on me, or this shield or anything. I would probably still be a kid, and the Deku tree wouldn't be dead. Gannondorf would have died a slow, painful death if he had even had been born at all. And violence would not exist. We can't always have what we want." Meghan was shocked at his little lecture. She could tell that it hurt him, saying all those things about a life of his that never was.

"I'm…so sorry. You…I…Oh, MY GOSH I'm SO SELFISH!" She cried, realizing. She had been so sorry for herself the last couple of days, when Link had been going through this for how many years? Not to mention seven years in the Chamber of the Sages…

"No, please don't apologize. You already have, _at least ten times…_" he whispered the last part.

"What was that? You hate my apologies?" she said, putting a hand to her ear.

"No, I didn't…" but now it was Meghan who was joking. "HEY!!"

"Pay back…" she said, giving off a triumphant smile. Saria started giggling again. Link looked at her.

"_Girls…_" he muttered.

"You know, I don't think you've ACTUALLY aged in the last seven years, Link." Saria said. "You still act like a little kid."

"Yeah, whatever."

"_Ooooh, conflict. Gotta go!"_ Meghan whispered so they couldn't hear. Then, after a few seconds of glaring, Saria broke out into giggles again. Even Link showed a smiled.

_Wow, these Hylians-or Kokiris-keep getting weirder and weirder._ Meghan thought. The giggling subsided with a final sigh and it became quiet. Too quiet…

Meghan longed for someone…or something…to break the scary silence.

"Sooo…" she started.

"Oh, yeah. Meghan, later we need to start training."

"Training?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Well, you can't expect to go around here and have nothing to protect yourself with."

"I…oh, yeah! That's right. I knew that."

"You need to either learn magic or how to use a weapon." Saria said.

"I don't think I can learn magic."

"Well, there's always a sword."

"LINK! How many times do I have to tell you she needs no violence?

"But then you said that she could have the Kokiri Sword, because then she would be coming around Hyrule. You technically are in control of whether she can have it…being the Sage of the Forest."

"I guess your right, but…"

"It's OK, Saria. I want to learn to use a sword! That would be so cool, coz when I get back home I can show off and stuff! My friends would be so jealous!"

"Right. Well, like I said we should start to train today."

"Oh, cool!" and for once, since she got here, she actually didn't want to go back home. _This place was mad cool. Now I get to be a half-Goth who knows how to…um…wield! Yeah that's the word I was looking for… A sword!_ But then she remembered her parents, and how although they were annoying sometimes, she still loved them. But then again…no never mind. "When can we start?" she said, hopping up and down.

"Uhhh…" he said looking at her then Saria. Saria gave him a 'go ahead' look. "Now, I guess."

"OH COOL!" she yelled, grabbing the sword and strapping it on her back before you could say "big piece of trouble with mayonnaise on it." Or, maybe just mayonnaise. He just stood there, like he was thinking for a second. Then he said:

"I know where we can go. Hyrule field! Lots of room…ideal for training!"

"OK, sure…"

"Come on, we should go, we have lots to learn! _And first, I have to learn how to teach people…_"

"You've never taught anyone before?"

"Uh, no. But, then we'll both be learning, right?" _How can he be so optimistic all the time?_

"OK, let's go."

"Link, have her back before dark. It's dangerous at night!"

"Of course! You wouldn't think that I would put her in danger, do you?"

"No, but…oh, just go and teach her well! Don't want any accidents."

"Right. Come on."

"Wait!" she said, smiling and remembering how cold it was. She ran to the table where she had put her clothes and took out the cloak. She put it on. It reached down a little above her ankles. It was actually quite warm. She looked up and gave off a smile too big for her. Link blushed again. That made her smile more. If that was possible.

"We should go." He thought of how he was going to teach somebody. _Well, I guess we should start out with the basics, like horizontal and vertical slashes, and then other things and combos and stuff, and maybe other weapons, but maybe that's for a different day…then…am I supposed to teach a girl like rolling attacks? I don't want her to hit her head, but they're a good strategy in battle. I'm confused! I need to like work out a plan for teaching…I-_

"Link, are you listening? I said bye!" Saria told him.

"Huh? Oh, right bye."

"Don't hurt her." She said in Hylian.

"Hey, Link. That's another thing you have to teach me. Hylian."

"Hylian? Oh, great. More overload for my head."

"Sorry. But you also have to teach me to play the Ocarina."

"WHAT?"

"I like music and since there's no piano here…I play piano…I need another instrument."

"The ocarina? But…"

"Link, what about the one I gave you?" Saria said in Hylian.

"Do you really want me to give it to her?"

"I'm fine with it/ You told me that you had a feeling that she would be herefor a while and would be important to Hyrule. Why not let her borrow it?"

"Because you gave it to me. I didn't want to-"

"It's OK, I'll get a new one for her. Use that one for…lessons." She laughed.

"Hey, guys! That's not fair, I have no idea what you're saying! How do I know you're not scheming against me?"

"I promise we weren't. We just wanted to let you borrow this…" he said, taking the Fairy Ocarina out. (Yet again from the endless, back pockets.) Meghan's eyes opened wide.

"But…isn't this the one Saria gave you? Seven years ago…on the bridge?"

"Don't worry, I told him to let you borrow it." Saria said.

"Are you sure?"

"Completely sure."

"Thank you so much." She said, slowly and gently taking the ocarina from his hands as though it were going to break any second now.

"We should go." And then, Meghan remembered the game. She remembered how Link was in it, he WAS very nice. _How could I ever have doubted his pure heart? _

"Bye, Saria!" she said while walking out the door with Link. They walked in silence towards the entrance/exit. Then, exiting the forest, they walked more until they were a bit out in the field, while still on flat ground, as there were a lot of hills on Hyrule Field.

Sheik had followed them. She climbed the tree yet again, Kaepora's tree. And she watched the whole thing.

More info from the author:

I did have breakfast today.

I'll probably have the next chapter today.

I kept forgetting to say (for like seven chapters) that I have no idea where that stuff came from back in chapter 3. (the hero thing? Yeah.)

Hello new reviewer! (jade2824) Thanks (Merci Beaucoup!)

To Serenitythefaierikin: your last review made me almost cry! MERCI BEAUCOUP! Merci merci merci! (Thanks a lot!) I had no idea it was a good chapter…

Now the story is 72 pages long.

This chapter is only 71/2 pages long (Boo-hoo! Back to school, but that's a good thing, right? YEAH!)


	47. ↓History: Part six↓

**As you know, I lied. I told you that I would have this up like two days ago, but oh well. I Didn't have a chance to because it was taking longer than I thought, and I needed more time. Please enjoy and review (Thank you reviewers!)**

"OK…um…I guess…"

"Wait a second. Before you start, we need to start over again."

"What?"

"We got off to a weird start…very weird, so we need a proper introduction. Hi, I'm Meghan Black, from earth." She said as she stuck out her hand. Link looked at it. Then he looked at her face, then back down at her hand.

"It's OK. I know you don't have any weapons. You don't have to prove it to me." If they were in an anime, they would have done an "anime fall," as they're called.(which is, to all you non-anime watchers shame on you! a fall to the floor at a stupid or clueless remark.) But, it's a video game so they can't.

"No, it's a hand shake. Yes, that was the original meaning, but no, this is a handshake. It's what people from my world do to greet each other. Take my hand," she coaxed him, he stuck out his awkwardly, and she took it. "And shake. Up and down, there you go!" he let go, looking quite confused, as though he had no idea what he just did. "Now I've taught you something from my culture, now you have to teach from yours."

"Alright…um, let me think. Thinking…thinking…how about just some Hylian words? To say hello is --------" (I would write some (As Link has taught me quite a bit) but, unfortunately, as you know it is written in symbols so…yeah.

"Wow, OK. -----" she repeated the word.

"And bye is -------"

"-------"

"Good."

"-----, that's a cool sounding word. And so is…how do you say bye again?"

"-------"

"OK. -------"

"Good."

"OK, now I need to learn how to wield a sword."

"Right…this is the hard part. OK, I guess we just start out with the basics, like horizontal and vertical slashes. Like this. Step back…" he drew the sword, then demonstrated a horizontal, then a vertical slash of the sword.

"Cool." She went to draw the sword, but once again facing the same problem as before. The sword didn't come out!

"Let me fix that." He said, walking behind her and adjusting it. She turned her head slightly to see what he was doing. "Now try."

"Thanks." She drew it. Then she did the horizontal, then a vertical. She liked it, the feeling was great! She did them again, and again, until:

"OK, now try to hit me."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Don't worry, you won't."

"I'm that bad?"

"No…" she slashed at him. He was barely ready, he had not told her to go yet! But, being the way he was, he was ready anyway most of the time. He parried it. He was surprised, that took practically no effort. She was sort of weak.

"Good." She was surprised. Was he that strong? She had hit it (OK, maybe not AS hard as she could) hard, and the sword didn't even move? Barely, at least. She tried again. This time, she hit as hard as she could. She thought it moved.

"God, you're good." She said.

"Thank you." She tried again. This time, she didn't just hit him. As her sword collided with his, she held it there and pushed it. She tried, eventually cheating and just pushing the stupid thing, but through all her efforts, it barely moved. Maybe a bit, but not much.

"OK, OK, maybe we should do something else."

"Like?"

"Other attacks. Like…" he thought for a second. She probably couldn't do a spinning attacking, at least not one charged with magic. Maybe combinations of things. Or, wait, no. Defense. That will be good.

"OK. I want you to do as I tell you."

"OK…"

"Alright…um, OK. I'm going to try to hit you. You have to defend yourself."

"With the sword? OK, I'll try."

"Alright, get ready."

"Hey, last time I saw, in battle people don't normally tell their opponents to get ready before they strike."

"Oh, right…" _I am not a good teacher._ Then he struck. She didn't think enough to put the sword completely in front of his sword, resulting in…

"Ouch. Don't poke me." She said. The sword had hit the underside of her arm. Luckily, it only made a small cut, just like a little hole.

"OH MY GODESSES! YOU'RE LEAKING!"

"What??? Oh, that. It's just blood."

"Blood?"

"Yeah. It's used to transport oxygen and nutrients throughout our bodies. You don't know much about humans, do you?"

"But I am a man."

"Not a YOU MAN, a HUMAN! God, you know nothing!"

"I know a lot of things!"

"Ok, sorry. I am a HUMAN. It's my species. I'm a homo sapiens."

"Please stop confusing me."

"Just forget it. I'm human, you're Hylian. Get it? You got it. OK."

"But what are nutrients?"

"RRRRRRRRAARRRR!" she groaned. "FOOD! Have you NEVER heard of FOOD?"

"Of course I have, calm down."

"Speaking of food….I haven't eaten since I got here!

"Eaten?"

"Or drank. But oddly, I'm not hungry or thirsty."

"I haven't drank since last week."

"LAST WEEK?"

"I had some milk last week."

"Now I'm thirsty."

"Would you like some milk?"

"Yes please." He handed her the bottle of fresh Lon Lon Ranch milk. She waited a second, then drank half of it. "ooooh, that's good."

"You can keep the bottle."

"You just like to give me things, don't you?"

"Uh…yeah…sure…"

"Thanks."

"We should get back to training."

"OK." He swung at her again. She parried. "I don't want to bleed anymore, it'll give you a heart attack!"

"What's a-"

"DON'T. ASK." She said very gravely. He tried to hit her again. She knocked the sword to the side with a hit.

"Good. Now to move on. I think we should, just in case, work on defense without a weapon. Just in case we're in any situation without a weapon, though that unlikely, but who knows. Put the sword back in the sheath," Meghan did as told. She missed the first time, but got it in.

"Don't worry, I did that the first couple of times. It just needs to be practiced. Now, to move on. We must look for where the sword is going, where it will reach, and how to evade it properly." _Wow! I'm good at this! Look out world, there's a new teacher in Hyrule_! He thought. "Also probably the speed at which the weapon is going."

"OK." She said, listening intently.

"Now. I' going to try to hit you. I'll go slow so you don't leak…"

"Bleed."

"Yeah, that and I don't have a heart attack. Whatever that may be."

"Just forget it." He slashed again, she jumped back, evading.

"You need to learn how to use a shield."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just part of the…look."

"Sure, but I don't have one and NO WAY! Are you going to get me one."

"I'll get you a Deku shield. They're not expensive."

"I'll pay."

"Do you have any money?"

"No, but it's not that hard to get it."

"I'll pay for it. I'm fine with that." They continued training, he went over some more advanced things to do, which Meghan still needed more practice on, and then they worked on just hand-to-hand combat. He even let her try his bow, and by no means did she even hit the tree they were targeting. ("Easy for Link, he's got that fairy." She said.") At least it went somewhere, right? That was the easy part. (Some people can't even hold the thing! No hand-eye coordination, I tell you.)

Finally, when a few hours had passed, and Meghan was tired from the workout she didn't have normally in her schedule, they sat in the field on the wall-thing and Link took out his Ocarina. Meghan took hers from where she had put it, in a pocket on the inside of the cloak. He played his favorite song, Zelda's Lullaby. He instructed her where to put her fingers on which holes at what time. (She also played flute, so the breathing thing came natural.) She played the song, feeling it caress her as each note went through her mind. Finally, she had the song good. Not perfect, but good.

"Hey, that means I can play Epona's song! Same notes, right?"

"Yeah, but if you play she'll come."

"So?"

"Go ahead." She messed up the first time, but played it again. Sure enough, the horse came galloping freely to her, and not Link for once.

"Hey, Epona. Wanna go for a ride?"

"Hey! Wait!" But Meghan, who had used the wall to mount, was already on the horse. The saddle was a bit strange, it was more of a western than the English she rode, but wasn't that different. She held the reins in an English position, then told Epona to go forward in a walk. "Wow, you're good."

"I've ridden before, not normally but a few times."

"Oh. Why do you hold it so strange?"

"Where I come from, there are a few ways you can ride. Yours is called western. Mine is called English."

"That's interesting."

"I can also ride western," She said, taking the reins into one hand, "But I prefer this one."

"OK, are you going to steal my horse?"

"I would only be returning the favor. Did you or did you not steal Epona?"

"Hey! He told me I could have her!"

"True…but…come on, Epona. Let's leave Link alone." She pretended she was going to go somewhere, but turned around and got off.

"OK, next time tell me if you're going to steal someone of mine."

"OK."

"It's getting dark, Saria will kill me if you're not back, and I have business to attend to."

"Like?"

"Finish the temple."

"At night?"

"Yes. I can't wait any longer. It's already been a while since I've been there."

"And it's all my fault."

"No, it isn't. Please, I chose to do this. It's my responsibility, not yours. So don't." They walked back home, Meghan leading Epona at her side. When they got to the forest, they set Epona off. Then they went back inside.

"I've got to go now. I'll see you when I finish."

"Do you have a fairy in a bottle?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Don't use it unless you're on the brink of death and BE CAREFUL! Morpha has a tendency to throw you and it hurts. If you need time to recover, stand in the corner, he can't reach there. Careful of the spikes. Have the long shot and your bow, just in case, ready, and of course the sword. Good luck." Link stood there, dumbfounded. "What?"

"How did you know all that?"

"The VIDEO GAME."

"Oh, yeah."

"Bye. I expect to hear success from you, OK?" she smiled at him.

"Of course. Would you expect anything else?" she waved to him and he left. She walked to Saria's house alone. When she got there, she found a note near the door:

Deer Megan,

Im sorry, I have to go on sages bisness. Ill see you soon, and be careful. I dont want you too go out at nite, and tell link i now if he has brout you bak befor dark or not. If you need anything, ill send my fairy every wonce in a wile to chek on you.

Love,

Saria.

_**(Spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes are purposeful!)**_

"Aww, Saria. I wish you were here!" she looked around the house. "Guess I'm by myself tonight." She looked out the window. It was turning dark, and she was tired from the day's workout. She sat on the floor and leaned her head against the bed. Soon she fell asleep.

She woke up sometime during the night. She had no idea what time it was, but she couldn't sleep again. She tried in a normal position, but was actually worried about Link. She got up. The dark house was scary. She wanted to go. But Saria told her not to. But she couldn't stay, what had happened to Link? She had to find him. She quickly put on the sword, the put the cloak on, took the ocarina, and left in a hurry. The cloak flowed behind her as she jogged outside. She got to Hyrule field, and hoped that Link wasn't on his horse. She Played Epona's song.

Epona came to her, and after some trouble, Meghan mounted and went off. She cantered to Lake Hylia, and actually managed to get Epona to jump over the fence. She had no idea how she did that. But she continued.

She entered the Lake Hylia area. She galloped to where the large tree was, across the bridge. Suddenly, as she was halfway across the second one, Link teleported there after just beating the temple. The water level, which was very low a few seconds ago, started to rise. She galloped to where Link was standing and dismounted. He smiled at her and said:

"What are you doing here?"

"I was bored." The sun had just started rising. "Are you OK? Did you get hurt at all?"

"No. I followed your advice."

"Really?"

"Yeah, thanks." Sheik, watched silently from the tree. She jumped down. Link turned, surprised.

"Well done, Link…" she (He to Link) said in Hylian while observing Meghan. " You have restored the Lake and awakened the Sage of Water."

"I couldn't have done it without Meghan."

"Oh? And who IS Meghan?" Sheik said, trying to find out about Meghan.

"This is Meghan. Meghan is from earth."

"Earth? That must mean she's a human. How interesting. Link, you do know that out of many life forms, humans are among the most destructive and irresponsible. In the short time, they have been a species, they have had more wars than Hyrule and Termina put together. Hylians have been around for much longer, but surprisingly have not killed even half the people that they have." Meghan looked confused. Hylian again!

"I am saying," Sheik said, walking around Meghan. "That you are a danger to Hyrule. And, like the other monsters around, you must be destroyed." Sheik stopped in front of Meghan. "Prepare yourself, human." She said, drawing her blades. "Live up to your name; FIGHT!"

"Sheik, no!" Link jumped in front of Meghan. "Why would she help me if she wanted to harm us? You were so wise and helpful before, but look at yourself! Picking on a helpless girl, how low can a person get?" He said in Hylian.

"Link, move out of the way. She can only cause harm." Sheik said in English.

"She's a little girl, Sheik! She can't do much!" he said in Hylian.

"I don't want to hurt you. I really don't. I don't even want to be here! Leave me alone! Nobody ever leaves me alone! I NEVER get a break from it all! Why can't I ever get a break?" Meghan cried. Sheik looked at her.

_My thoughts…were they interfered with? What good could I possibly accomplish by killing an innocent girl? Goddesses, what have you placed upon me? A destiny or a killing spree? What was the meaning of the prophecy? Have I misunderstood it? _Sheik relaxed her weapons to her sides.

"I…I'm sorry. I have strayed from the purpose of my visit. I…just never mind. And Link," she said in Hylian, "Please, watch her."

"Don't worry I'm already under sage's orders." It would have been a joke, but he wasn't too happy with Sheik at that moment, so it wasn't.

"Good. Not just because she could be dangerous, but because she mustn't be running around Hyrule for her own safety."

"I know that." Link said. Meghan stepped out from behind Link.

"I must go now." Sheik stepped back.

"Wait! Meghan walked up to her. "I know who you are." Sheik froze.

"Yes, I am a survivor of the Sheikah."

"No, I know who you really are."

"I am Sheik."

"No," She whispered so Link wouldn't hear. "You're Zelda."

"How did you know?"

"Long story. I didn't just figure it out, though. Well, actually I did when I played that game…"

"Game?"

"Yeah, I…long story. But, I know who you are."

"Please! Don't tell! Who knows what Link will do if he knows!"

"I wasn't going to tell him anyway."

"Good. Wonderful! Now we can be friends. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have judged you. What am I thinking? You probably hate me now, now that I have threatened you. You can just forget about me. I'll pop up every once in a while…"

"Zelda, calm down! It's OK, I've faced worse things in my life. Just don't do it to any other human before you know them, OK?

"Of course! I must have misinterpreted the prophecy; I shouldn't have just acted without fully understanding. It was probably telling me that you were good for Hyrule! Yes, that must be it!"

"Sheik, you're going to blow your cover if you keep acting like a girl."

"Oh…right. Ahem. I must be going now." Sheik/Zelda stepped back again. She disappeared.

"Meghan, are you OK? What did he say?"

"Sheik said that he was sorry."

"Oh. I'm sorry too, on behalf of Sheik."

"It's OK, really."

"OK. Does Saria know you're here?"

"I think so. But I'm not entirely sure."

"How are you not sure?" He said, walking towards Epona, who nuzzled him.

"She wasn't there. She said she had some sage's business to attend to."

"Oh?" He said, starting to walk while leading Epona.

"I have no idea what though."

"That's alright. Do you have your sword?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you want to train some more?"

"Of course! That would be fun. I think…"

"Of course it's fun! But we must always remember why we are training, and then it is not fun."

"You're right. Well, let's anyway."

"OK." They walked out in silence to where they were yesterday, leaving Epona near Lake Hylia. Then they started. They did almost exactly what they did yesterday, for an hour at least. Then Link brought up the subject:

"I wonder where the next temple is." Meghan froze for a second, mid-blow. She lowered the sword.

"Link, the next one you have to go back in time."

"OK, I'm not even going to ask how you know these things. But, why?"

"The Lens of Truth. You need it for the Shadow Temple."

"The Lens of truth? Didn't that old man in Kakariko say something about that?"

"Yes. It's in the well."

"But the well is dried up."

"It wasn't as a kid, if you'll remember."

"You're right. But what good is a full well going to do for me?"

"Did you learn the Song of Storms?"

"Yes, that weird 'turning' man in the windmill said that a kid played it seven years ago…that must be…me?"  
"Right. You need to go back in time and get it. But don't go to Kakariko!"

"Why?"

"The spirit…I think it was a spirit…inside the well is going to hurt you!"

"Hurt me?"

"Yeah, be careful! It'll hurt Sheik as well!"

"How do you know all this? Do you like, have prophecies or something?"

"No, the VIDEO GAME!! It's like the same! But what…what would happen to…I wasn't here seven years ago! What will happen?"

"I…don't know."

"Sheik! Sheik will know! Come on! We need to go to Kakariko!"

"But you said not to go there!"

'But we need to see Z-Sheik."

"Alright…whoa!" Meghan grabbed his hand and ran to Kakariko. He followed her, and she eventually let go.

"Wait! Stop for a second!" She turned and stopped. "Why do we need to see Sheik?"

**More interesting info from ME!**

**Link has been annoying me lately. I think he needs to take a nap, but does he listen? No. Who cares, though? He's nice, not cranky like SOME people I know.**

**This little chapter happens to be 10 pages long.**

**The story is now 83 pages long.**

**I have no idea what to write.**

**Oh, yeah. Now I remember. I had a snow day today! Though I hated it because my biology test keeps getting postponed…:'(**


	48. ↓History: Part seven↓

Me is back! (Excuse my poor English today) Me like this chapter…giggle giggle…you'll see why…giggle giggle…

"We need to see Sheik because Sheik will know what to do."

"But why? So what if I have to go back in time?"

"Because I was not here seven years ago. Maybe Sheik will know, perhaps this is a way back?"

"Um…OH! I get it now! By seeing Sheik, he can tell us what to do!"

"SMART. Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Link seemed confused. Meghan shook her head. "Never mind. But let me warn you. Don't be surprised, Kakariko will be on fire."

"It doesn't look on fire…" he said, looking out towards Kakariko Village.

"Yeah I know it doesn't LOOK like it, but it will be. And Sheik will be there because he's trying to help Impa seal the spirit thingy away, from inside the well. And one more bit of advice. Don't let it grab you, don't try to fight it, don't do anything, but STAY BACK! It will throw you; you'll get knocked out, and such. For once, don't be mister hero."

"O…K…"

"Yeah, OK! Now we must go!"

"Alright…" They ran towards the village, Meghan in the lead. A minute later, they arrived. They climbed the steps…

**Link's P.O.V.**

What I saw as I entered the small village could not be described. Frantic people hid from the spreading fires. I glanced at the young girl next to me, watching as she took it in as well. Her face was a horrified expression, as though she was not the one who had just warned me. I knew that I had to be strong.

I stepped forward, as did she. She followed as I stepped towards the most memorable part of the disaster, Sheik trying to do something, which I could not comprehend. He was knocked back as I rushed to him, still followed by the strange 'human' girl at my side.

Sheik stood again. Something was around us, but it was invisible to me so I drew my sword. But then I remembered Meghan's warning. I hesitated as to what to do, a costly mistake.

Whatever the thing was attempted to hurt me, but Meghan came and knocked me t the ground before I could move out of the way myself. It was a persistent little thing, and it tried again. This time it got me. I blacked out.

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

The spirit thing threw Link. He landed, unconscious. I was scared, that thing was dangerous. But as Sheik (A.K.A. Zelda) went to take care of it, I went the opposite way to Link. Sheik somehow sealed it or something. It was like the game.

I kneeled next to him, and Sheik was on the other side. He regained consciousness in a matter of seconds. (Unlike me…)

"Whoa." He sat up, and then stood. I did too. "What was that thing?" Sheik explained, but I was barely paying attention. For multiple reasons. One was that I was trying to figure out just how to ask Zelda what I was going to do when he had to go back in time. And two: I already knew what was going down with the whole Kakariko Village things. I knew the song; I knew Impa was the sage, etc. It's actually kinda fun knowing more than the Hero of Time…heh heh. Anyway, I only started paying attention at the end when Sheik took out her lyre and taught Link the Nocturne of Shadow. (← → → a ← → ↓) He picked up the song very quickly. Quicker than I ever had with my flute!

Once Link was finished learning what he needed to know, I brought up the subject.

"Sheik, what am I going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, he has to go back in time."

"How did you know that? I didn't even know that."

"Yes you did. But anyway, what am I supposed to do? I wasn't here seven years ago."

"Talk to the sages. They'll know."

"Do you think Saria's back, Link?"

"I don't know. Possibly."

"Call her. Or, whatever you do with her song."

"Alright." He played Saria's song, ↓ → ← ↓ → ←. He explained to Saria.

**Normal P.O.V.**

"Well, Link, Meghan, Sheik, there is a place within the sacred realm which I know of. It's a sector of the realm in which no matter how much time passes in Hyrule, it will never pass in there. Of course, by this I mean you can still live and do things in there, but time will never actually pass."

"So if I went there while Link went back in time, nothing would happen to me?"

"Well, first of all, we don't even know if anything will happen. You could just return to yourself as an eight year old," Link quickly did the math. _That means she's fifteen_. "Or you could not be here. But, unfortunately, I believe you would have to come back. That's the way the time would work."

"Not to disprove you on purpose, Saria," began Sheik, "But that would most likely not happen." She did not say her prophecy, for it would surely give her away. "But given the circumstances, a person does not just return to another dimension. The Goddesses must aid in this, and therefore she could not return. But, being that she would not be here…"

"Ahem, I'm standing right here."

"Oh, sorry. Being that you would not be here, you could not return to your younger self either. So the result would be a placement in some inter-dimensional place, not here, not there."

"Kinda like the Sacred Realm." Meghan said.

"Yes, but different because it would not be the Sacred Realm."

"So…"

"So Saria, can you put Meghan there?"

"I'd have to ask Rauru. He knows more than I. But it could be arranged."

"Thank you, Saria." Meghan felt like she was in the way, and everyone had to do thing for her since she had been here. (Sound familiar?) "I'm sorry guys, it's kinda strange that you have to do all these things for me. I must be a major pain."

"Not at all, don't even think that. That's what we do." Link said.

"But look at you guys, wasting this time meant to be used saving HYRULE, not me!"

"Well, Meghan." Sheik began. "The time that we stood here saying such things just wasted more time, and to no avail as well."

"Huh? Oh no!" she said. "We have to go NOW!" Link looked at her. Then he looked at Sheik. Sheik closed her eyes and nodded the slightest bit.

"Saria, please talk to Rauru, as we must leave now."

"Of course!" Saria severed their connection.

"I will see you again." Sheik backed up, and in a second, was gone.

"Let's go to the Temple of Time. There, we shall await what is to happen."

"Okie dokie."

"The quickest way there would be to teleport."

"OK."

"But you can't teleport."

"Point?"

"Yes, swords are pointy. Anyway, normally Navi teleports with me, so if a Fairy can do it, why not a human?"

"Still don't get the point."

"Hold on to my shoulder."

"What?"

"You heard me. Then, I will play the song, and we can teleport."

"Wasting time."

"Just do it."

"OK." He took out his ocarina, but she still didn't touch him.

"OK, now." She still didn't so anything. "Now…" she looked at him. She smiled, and then took her right index finger, and very, very gently touched his arm. He rolled his eyes.

"OK, whatever." He played the song, and they both teleported. Meghan felt like she was going to barf.

When they reached the Temple of Time, Meghan staggered a bit. She went one way, then the other until she was caught.

"That was weird."

"Yeah…it was the first time I did it." She put her hand on her head. "Don't worry the dizziness goes away in a few seconds." Suddenly they heard a voice.

"Step forward, Hero, human." Link did as told. Meghan followed. _Why can' I have a cool title, he gets called _hero _but I'm just_ human

"Who's that?" She whispered.

"Rauru." They stepped beyond where the door was.

"Link, you must replace the Master Sword in its Pedestal in order to return to the past. As for this girl, she must step forward and we will bring her to the Sacred Realm." Meghan looked at Link, who gave her a "go ahead" look.

She stepped forward, towards the Master Sword. She turned around and waved goodbye as the light took over her form. It was so bright; he could no longer see her. Then, when it disappeared, he could no longer see her. He too stepped forward towards the pedestal…

He drew the sword, then forced it in the pedestal, where he too was engulfed by the light, the Lights of Time…

And suddenly he felt very short.

MEANWHILE (Well, actually a little bit before that happened)

"Meghan! Come this way, quickly!" Meghan was a on a platform, like in the Chamber of the Sages, only a bit different. Saria grabbed her hand and ran in a direction off the platform. When she stepped off the platform, though, she did not fall. She just kept going until Meghan could see nothing but darkness from each side. Then she abruptly turned and ran. Finally, Meghan saw something before them. A door that seemed familiar.

"Do you recognize it?" Meghan nodded. It was the door of time! And standing before it were the already awaked sages, Darunia, Ruto, Rauru, and Saria at her side. "This place is the real Temple of Time. This is actually a different dimension, but it is the sister place to where the Temple of Time in Hyrule is. So, technically we are in the same exact place, just in a different dimension."

"Uh…wow. That's interesting."

"So, if you stand in that room," she pointed to the Door, "Time will not pass because you are not really there, while being there."

"My brain hurts." Saria giggled.

"Quickly, Sages! We must open it!" Saria instructed. Saria raised her hands above her head, as if she were holding something there. Then she brought them slightly forward, with her palms facing the door. Then Rauru joined, then Darunia, then Ruto. The door opened. "Inside Meghan! He is putting the sword in!" Meghan ran inside the room. Her heart stopped beating, she stopped breathing. It was the weirdest feeling. Yet, she still was able to move around. Saria stepped inside with her.

The room was an exact replica of the room where the Master Sword was. It looked the same as the temple.

"We should not have to stay very long," Saria said as the door closed.

"Thankfully you came here with me. I would be scared of being locked in a room with that big door there," She nodded towards it, "In my way of getting out."

"Me too." Then the door opened again. "It is time to go back."

"Already?"

"I told you time does not pass within these walls. Everybody has probably been waiting for a few minutes by now. And Link has probably been waiting for even longer."

"OK." Meghan went back to the place she was at before, after saying bye to each of the sages and thanking them. She returned to Hyrule's Temple of Time. Link was standing in the same place as before.

"Did you get it?"

"What?"

"The lens of Truth!"

"Yes."

"Well then we have to go to the temple."

"There is no 'we.' I must go."

"I want to go too."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me come."

"Who said you could come?"

"You just did."

"I did not. Oh, wait." He thought for a second. "That was not fair. You can't come. No way."

"Stop being a hypocrite. You say I can't come, but then you say I can, and then say that you didn't say that I could but you really did say that I could because you just changed your mind, but then said you didn't."

"What? Never mind. Fine, you can come. Just gotta be careful. We don't know what's in there."

"There is no 'we'," She said, copying him. "I know what's in there."

"Oh yeah! That's right! This is good."

"Yes, one problem though."

"Yeah?"

"Eye of truth only works on one person, hover boots only works on one person."

"Hover boots???…"

"Yes, you'll see. Never mind, we'll figure something out."

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

Now, to tell the next part of the story bit by bit would be murder. I can say, that once I got there, Link retrieved the hover boots, and we did figure out a way to use them (Much to my disliking) but through that we learned to work together, both Link and I. You see, both of us had not ever really worked together with other people (Not including Fairies), unless forced, too much because we were always on our own. That is, in case you didn't figure out, why I cried that night I came to Hyrule. I had not many friends, I was so lonely. Link, yes he had many friends and made them easily, but he never traveled or anything with them to a large degree. That's why I had a hard time accepting that they wanted to be my friends. I did not make them easily.

So, the result, we became closer in the few hours it had taken to beat the Temple and its boss. And once we had beaten it, we had become best friends. Sorta. As close a girl and a guy could get without being…you know…boyfriend and girlfriend.

Anyway, after that Temple, awakening the sages and stuff, we had to go to the next temple. Link and I both set the carpenters free, and got passes to come through Gerudo's Fortress and stuff (Well, Link actually only got his after much convincing that I was NOT the brains of the whole plan. They wanted to give one only to me. Crazy Gerudos.) Then we trudged through the desert (Which is NOT a pleasant place) and that's when I told Link he had to go back, again, and told Saria, who told the rest of the sages, now including Impa, and then once we had seen sheik again to learn the Requiem of Spirit (Which is MY favorite song,)

Anyway, on our way back to the Temple of Time, to yet again let Link back to his kid form, I told him what Kotake and Koume did to Nabooru. I said:

"It made me so filled with fury, that I just wanted to blast them to pieces." Wow, that was an unexpected thing. Can you guess what happened? Well, I almost killed Link (Or took away some serious life) because of that strange magic attack thing that I have. Which I don't think is technically magic, but whatever.

"Don't hurt me!" he said, jumping to the side as this white thing came out of my hand. "What…you can do magic?"

"I…I don't think so."

"Can you do that again?"

"What did I do?"

"Well maybe it was a movement you made."

"I was just walking."

"Maybe it was something you said."

"I just said that…"

"Wait!" I was looking at my hand. "Face it towards the ground."

"Oh, right. I said that it makes me so mad I just want to blast them to pieces." Nothing happened.

"I think you said something else."

"Oh, yeah! I said that it fills me with such fury," a bit of white had shown through my hand, "That I just want to blast them to PIECES!" And then this thing came out of my hand again as I said blast. "Fury Blast?" something came out again. But then I felt very weak and my knees buckled and I fell down.

"Meghan, are you OK?"

"I don't feel good. Read me the story with the bunnies Téa."

"Who's Téa?"

"She's from YuGiOh."

"Where's YuGiOh?"

"In our minds."

"OK, I'm going to forget that comment. Are you alright?"

"I'm hungry." And, to tell the truth, I had not been hungry since I had been there.

"Hungry?"

"Yes! How did you know? You are magic!"

"Uh, yeah. Food, where do I find food?"

"In Kakariko! Duh!"

"Come on, get up." OK, so I don't remember everything exactly, because if you couldn't tell I was very tired and perhaps had a bit of temporary self-inflicted brain damage. But he told me what happened after that. Well, until I got food because that's when I remember again. Link helped me up, called on his horse, put me on, and walked beside her. I was delirious, he said when we got to Kakariko, and I had a bit of something porridge-like, (well, actually I've never had porridge but I think that's what it's like.) cooked by that lady in that house where everybody goes when they need a home. The lady who had Richard, and the rest of them.

Then, when Link had paid her (Against the lady's will) we went outside. Bored, we climbed Impa's house and sat at the top. And this is where this happened:

"You know Meghan," he began "There are two types of heroes. One fights, physically or verbally, for what they believe to be right. Some might even consider an evil man such as Gannondorf to be a hero, if that's what they believe in.

"But, the second type is one who lives their life enjoying it with others, helping themselves AND the others. All people are heroes; it is just a matter of which kind. I consider myself a hero in the second way. Not as the Hero of Time. It is merely a title. Because I found so many friends along my journeys. Some of the most precious sit here now."

I was surprised. And confused. What was he saying? Could he…no, we were just friends. But the look on his face told her otherwise.

"Thank you Link."

Normal P.O.V.

"It is I that should be thanking you. Ever since we met, you and I have been bonded in a hero's way…"

"Which one?" Meghan giggled.

"Hmmm," Link said thoughtfully, "I don't know." He smiled too. Meghan yawned and leaned back on Link. She promptly fell asleep.

"Good night, my precious." He whispered, looking out toward Death Mountain. "It was fate that brought us here, and fate that will take us both away."

He sat there for a few minutes, feeling her leaning against his chest. Then, when he knew it was time to go, He moved so that he could lift her. He picked her up, still sleeping and whispered:

"_What did you do to yourself?" _Silently laughing. He brought her back off the house, and then brought her to Epona. He put her on before him, and he mounted behind. (This took some effort, for he did not want her to fall.)

It was kind of hard, with his one-handed rein holding. (What was it she had called it? Western?) So he switched to what she had called English. It was actually easier. He brought her back to the Kokiri Forest. He was going to leave her at his house, but considering she was sleeping and he had to carry her he decided to leave her at Saria's. He placed her on the bed then quietly left.

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

When I awoke, I was in Saria's house. Link was nowhere to be seen, nor was anyone else. I got up and changed; into the same black shirt I first wore (Remember, it had been around a week and a half since I got there.) (And I figured out a way to tie it myself.) Then I skipped the cloak, because it was warm outside, with spring-like weather.

I looked around for Link, he wasn't around. I didn't know where to look, so I asked a little Kokiri girl. Of course, not using his name.

"I saw him go to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow."

"Thank you." I went there. Once I rounded the corner, I didn't see him at first. Then I did. It was a very sad picture that I'll always remember. I saw him near the corner of the meadow, near one of the deceased Deku Tree's large roots at a mound, which I never saw in the game. In front of it was a tombstone. He was kneeling next to it with his head bowed. As I walked closer, he turned his head quickly. Seeing that it was I, he gave me a sad smile. It was one of those smiles that people often give little kids when something sad has happened, but they are happy to see the kid. You can see the sadness in their eyes, yet they force that sad, pathetic smile on you.

He beckoned me to come over, and I felt like a kid again as I tottered to his side. I stared at the tombstone, and it was a sad sight. You could tell it had been there for a while. Then I realized.

"It's…not…" he smiled.

"Not what?" he said as he stood.

"Your…"

"It's my mother's" I looked at the grave. A bunch of freshly cut wild flowers of beautiful colors was laid at the foot of the tombstone.

Normal P.O.V.

The tombstone itself was completely blank, she realized. He saw her looking at it. "She never told anyone her name before she died." Meghan looked at him with sad, wide eyes. Although she never knew her, or anything, she felt the sadness.

"Oh Link, I'm so sorry! How awful! I'm so sorry. You poor person." Her eyes started to tear.

"It's OK. I don't even remember her." He said. Meghan felt so sad. _How sad is that, they didn't even know her name? _" Let's go. We have to beat that temple today."

"Today?" suddenly, she felt so sorry. _This poor guy, so much responsibility. So little time to himself. _

"Yes today." He said, leaning on her head and messing up her hair playfully.

"Hey, stop please." She ducked out from underneath him and he fell forward.

"You're mean."

"Or am I?" She said in Hylian. The first sentence she had really said to him in his language.

"What? How'd you do that?" she rolled her eyes.

"You have taught me." She said the 'you', 'have' and 'me' in Hylian, but said 'taught' in English.

"What the? Wow you're a fast student."

"I was pretty good in my French class back home."

"French?"

"Oui, monsieur, à la classe du Français."

"What?"

"à la classe du Français."

"What does that mean?"

"In the class of the French, technically. In English, it would translate into 'In French class'"

"But what is French?"

"A language."

"OK…"

"OK, monsieur. Nous allons aller…uh… save Hyrule." She did not know how to say 'save' in French.

"Since I'm teaching you Hylian, you have to teach me French."

"I don't know THAT much. Only enough to survive in a French-speaking place."

"That's OK, I still want to know."

"Oui, monsieur. Oh, and what I just said means 'yes mister.'"

"How do you say yes miss?"

"Oui, mademoiselle."

"Oui made-mad-yoisell" He said it all messed up. She helped him pronounce it correctly.

"Yes, I have learned a new language."

"Not quite."

"You know what I mean." This happy conversation led them away from there sorrows. As they walked towards the exit of the clearing, Link walked closer to Meghan. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He looked at her, but she just leaned her head against his shoulder.

No words necessary. No matter how many languages known.

**Interesting facts:**

**This is a twelve page long chapter**

**The next one is going to be the last history chapter, then it will resume to the actual story. Phew.**

**To Serenitythefaierikin- No no no! Those were tears of joy! I loved your review so much it made me cry!!! THANK YOU!**

**Thank you Keilyuu!!!!!!!!**

**And Thank YOU DrippingInk!! (new reviewers)**


	49. History: Part Eight: Finale: What happen...

**I have over excessive WRITE MY STORY! Syndrome. Seriously. Dude, you should see how long this chapter is…**

**I have to warn you. The beginning, until they get into the temple, is a bit random and hardly makes sense…and is not relevant to the rest of the story. BUT…that's just the way it is.**

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

Wow, even to this day, I think of that moment, and all I can say is:

_**YOU STUPID IDIOT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?**_

But, that's all in the past. I wonder what he thinks of me…

**Link's P.O.V.**

Hmmm…I remember that.

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

He probably hates me for that. Well, maybe not. He must have thought I was a weirdo.

**Link's P.O.V.**

Fuzzy. (Who's the weirdo here?)

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

I wonder what he was thinking at that point in time.

**Link's P.O.V.**

"Did I Leave my bow at my house?"

**Meghan's P.O.V.**

I guess I'll never know. And I am NOT asking him. Anyway, back to the story.

**Normal P.O.V.**

Meghan and Link walked silently out of the clearing. Meghan let go of his hand once in view of the rest of the forest. She was embarrassed. Oh well. Such consequences.

"We need to tell Saria again."

"I'll contact her." And so, Link played Saria's Song and told her again. This time they were actually coming. So, they teleported to the Temple of Time again. They went through the whole procedure again.

Once the sages had let her into the alternate dimension Temple of Time again, Saria came yet again.

"Meghan." She said very calmly.

"Yes?"

"I saw you."

"I see you too."

"No, I saw what you did to Link."

"What did I do?"

"Clouding the Hero's thoughts." Meghan was scared. _Have I done something wrong? Are they going to hate me now?_ Meghan thought very worriedly, until she realized that Saria was suppressing a giggle.

"Ok, what did I do this time?"

"Don't hide it, Meghan. You know you like him."

"HIM? How…what…you…no! What are you talking about?"

"The sages watch Link when he is supposed to be doing his job. _Which_ I noticed he wasn't. You're lucky I was on watch duty. Goddesses only know what Rauru would have done, had he seen that."

"YOU PERVERTS! He needs his privacy too!"

"Whoa, calm down…it's just…Hee hee…haha,"

"OK, don't rub it in. But I still don't know what you're talking about." She said, even though now she knew perfectly well.

"Yes you do." Meghan gave up and gave Saria a begging face.

"Please don't tell anyone."

"Tell? Why not…I mean, why would I tell?"

"Saria!"

"OK, I was just kidding."

"Good."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, stop faking it Meghan. You know perfectly well."

"?"

"I'm not telling."

"?"

"Fine. I saw you holding his hand."

"? WHAT?"  
" Don't deny it."

"DENY? I COURSE I DENY!" Meghan crossed her arms in front of her and changed her position to an angle about 45 degrees away, so she could still see her but Saria could see her signs of protest.

"This conversation has gone on long enough. The others are probably worrying."

"JUST…promise not to tell, OK?"

"Of course I would never tell. Just couldn't resist taking the chance to annoy you." Meghan gave her a fake glare. Then they exited.

When she returned to Link, he was sitting along the edge of the steps leading to the Pedestal.

"Hi!" She skipped cheerfully to him, despite what just happened. "Oh COOL! NEW GOODIES!" Link was sporting a brand new pair of gauntlets. "These ones add pizzazz to everything!" Meghan said, giggling.

"What? Pizzazz? Should I ask?"

"Hmmm…it means…style, 'coolness.'" She said in an exaggerated tone, emphasizing each word.

"OK."

"Oh, and what is this?" She said, looking behind him. "Master sword wasn't good enough for you, was it?" he had a different sword on. It was the Biggoron sword.

"Shh!"

"What?"

"The Master Sword might get jealous." She giggled even more.

"When did you get that?"

"I had enough time after I came back."

"I was gone that long? SORRY!"

"That's OK. I got a lot of exercise. Well, Epona did anyway. We had to go from Gerudo Valley, to Death Mountain, then to Zora's Domain, then to Lake Hylia, then all the way back to Death Mountain. And then when I tried to teleport the stupid medicine got bad, so I had to do it all over again…"

"I get it. But hey, through your troubles at least you gained something."

"Yes, I suppose. We should go."

"Yeah, can't keep Nabooru waiting."

"That was horrible!"

"What?"

"What they did…we must hurry!" He pulled out the ocarina. He played the Requiem of Spirit.

_Wow, I love that song._ Meghan thought as he played the beautiful melody in a beautiful way…

They had teleported. Man, it was hot!

"Whoo! Very hot here."

"Yes…are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"We should get inside. It was cooler in there, if you remember."

"Yes. Careful of the monsters. Which reminds me…"

"What?"

"Did you see the Great Fairy?"

"There's another one?"

"Yes, she's over there." She said, pointing. "We should go see her. You'll like what she has."

"What is it?"

"You'll see!" So, they rushed to that little place, found a way inside, (Which included a loud explosion) and stepped inside.

Link immediately knew what to do, having done so before.

He played Zelda's Lullaby.

"Hahaha! I am the Great Fairy of…" But Meghan was not paying attention. She was in awe of the fairy's beauty. _Wow, the game can be really, really inaccurate at times like these._ She thought. _Oh well_.

"…I will grant you a magic spell. Receive it now!" A light with a bluish tint shone around Link, giving him the magical abilities of Nayru's Love. "I see that the girl is here." Said the pinkish-haired fairy, looking at Meghan under darkly shaded eyelashes. "This spell may work around two people, as long as you have twice the magic. You merely have to be in contact, just as your Noble little Fairy does." Navi, at this point, gasped and started to fly around Link's head.

"Oh, Your Grace is too kind!" The little voice said. "Thank you! You flatter me!" the great fairy chuckled at the comment.

"Come here, O noble Fairy Navi." Meghan was confused. _We came here to get Link Nayru's love, and ended up with…something to do with Navi!_

The Great Fairy lifted her delicate looking hands to under her mouth, palms under her chin, and blew a soft breeze at the little fairy. Navi began to glow, then became very sparkly.

"These bits of Hylian stars will change colors as you do." At her present color, color, they were silver sparkles. Navi turned herself green, the stars following her lead.

"Wow!" Navi let out this exaggerated word. Meghan smiled. _Now she has a purpose. To be sparkly!_

"Navi, may I see your great Beauty?" Meghan asked. The fairy flew towards Meghan, and as she got there, she modeled her sparkly stars to Meghan, flying in little circles at eye level. "Navi, you're beautiful!" Meghan complimented as the little fairy turned an even brighter white. Her way of smiling.

By this point, the only one who seemed confused was Link. _Is this what girls do in their spare time? Scary. Glad I'm not one._ The Great Fairy, apparently seeing his confusion, began again.

"Do not fret Link. This is, indeed a 'girl thing.' Now, as I was saying, providing you have the proper amount of Magic, you may perform this spell. Also…" She looked at Meghan, who wasn't really paying attention because she was watching the little fairy show off her new looks. "Come closer." Link stepped to the edge of the fountain, and the Great Fairy came close to his face. He gulped.

"Protect this human. One day, she will be very important to Hyrule's future." She whispered in his ear. "The gods have prophesized." She went back to her normal position. "Whenever you are weary of battle, come back to see me! Hahahahahaha!" (A/N-A bit of foreshadowing for you there! Not telling any more, though.)

The fairy shrank then disappeared. Link stood comprehending what she meant. He was SOO clueless.

"Link, we should go." Navi no longer wanting to return to her spot in Link's tunic. She flew around his head and flew everywhere else too. When she had flown so far she could not hear what Link and Meghan were saying, Meghan said to Link "Link, she needs to calm down. If she's like that in the temple, you're going to have a hard time."

"Yes. Navi!" Link called.

"Yeah?" She zoomed back to Link and stopped right in his face.

"Please stop doing that."

"Oh, right." Navi backed up.

"Anyway, Navi, can you calm down? We're going to need your help in the temple."

"Sorry, Linky-winky-"

"Please stop doing that too!" He said, embarrassed.

"Oh come on. You never used to mind."

"Navi! Get over here!" Link reached out and grabbed her.

"AHHH! I'm being eaten by a Hylian! AHHHHHHHHH!"

"Navi!" Link yelled and started wrestling with the fairy. Who, Meghan noticed was quite strong. "You little fairy!"

"Meghan help!"

"GUYS! Stop, this is no time to be fooling around." They stopped struggling. Link bowed his head in shame, and Navi flew close to the ground. "We have business to attend to." And with that, Meghan stepped outside, waiting for the pair to follow her. All those stupid little monsters bombarded her, but she with swipes of her sword. She was NOT in the mood.

_Stupid little kids. That's what they act like. That's so…just like I used to act._ She suddenly felt very homesick. Link was following her, wondering what had her so angry.

_Those are some seriously dangerous swings at those little monsters. What's wrong? Did I do something? It's NAVI'S Fault!_

"Navi, what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do it. YOU did it."

"How do you know?"

"Girls don't do that when they are mad at a girl."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Hey Meghan!" She didn't turn. He ran to catch up with her. "Meghan." She turned her head so suddenly he put his hand to his hilt and almost drew his sword. An instinctual action.

"What?" She said sharply.

"What's the matter?"

"What's the matter? WHAT'S THE MATTER? YOU IMMATURE…Oh, the matter. Right. We need to save Nabooru, and you are going all crazy and attacking Navi! The poor tortured soul!" Navi flew over to Meghan and she gave her a tiny hug.

"I'm so tortured…"

"And unloved…"

"And loathed…"

"And…"

"OK! I get it! Sorry Navi, sorry Meghan."

"That's OK." Meghan started smiling and skipping as she killed the passing monsters. Link stared. _Is she OK? _Navi was flying very happily at Meghan's side.

"Navi I thought you were my fairy!" Link stopped and cried, but low so they couldn't hear. He ran to catch up with them.

Meghan and Navi entered the Spirit temple first, with Link right behind. He quickly went before them, Navi flying to his side. Meghan looked over his shoulder to the place where they had been once before.

"That's what you have to push. That block."

"Ok."

"Come on. Oh, I know how to get a lot of money…oh wait, never mind you don't have the Light Arrows yet. Never mind."

"Light Arrows?"

"Yeah. You'll see."

"Do I have to monsters?" He said, pointing towards the motionless monsters up the steps.

"You should, just in case." So, they , Link using his new sword, and made their way through the temple.

Each room they conquered, and each room was twice as easy, having another person there. Besides the little, noble fairy who still sparkled like the morning sun!

When at last they had gotten to the very end of the temple, they went to the door before the room in which Nabooru was held captive.

"This is where Nabooru is. In there, she is disguised and brainwashed as a…what are those monsters called?"

"Which one?" Navi asked.

"The one with a the great, big ax things that scare the living daylight out of me!"

"That would be an Iron Knuckles."

"Yeah that thing. Nabooru will be one, in there. I think you have to hit it for her to wake up…or not."

"She's sleeping?"

"NO! And it's more like IT'S sleeping. But…I'm not sure. Just gotta be careful. You don't want to get hit."

"Yeah, I know."

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah…"

"Just don't hurt her too bad. She may be a Gerudo, but she's better than the rest of them. Especially-"

"Yes, I know." He stepped forward towards the door, and it let him in. She was going to say Gannondorf, but was interrupted insolently. Meghan followed behind him.

"So what do I have to do?" He whispered at the opposite end of the room from the Iron Knuckles.

"Use your brain. Same thing as any other ones."

"Which would be…"

"You forgot?"

"Yeah…" He scratched his head. "Ummm…"

"Throw a bomb at it!"

"Oh, right. It won't hurt her?"

"No……"

"Stay back, OK?" She nodded. She did NOT want to deal with one of those things if it was not necessary. He stepped forward far enough to throw a bomb. He took one out and threw it. Meghan backed up as far against the wall as possible. The bomb exploded.

A fierce growl-like sound filled the room. The Iron Knuckles stood, found its target, (Link) and walked forward. Link drew his sword. Once the monster was within striking distance, it struck with a grunt.

Link quickly evaded the blow with a swift back hand spring. ("How does he do that?" Meghan had wondered.) Once he was upright again, he took a blind stab at the Iron Knuckles, slashing it in its armor. The Iron Knuckles barely realized this and struck again. Link once again jumped out of the way and stabbed it in different spots. They repeated it for a fourth time; eventually a bit of the armor fell off. This made it MAD. It started going faster towards Link, each time only succeeding in getting hit itself.

_God he's good. I wish I was that good. I don't think I'll ever be that good. Especially NOT with this little sword!_ She remembered the sword. She remembered that she should always have it out in enemy territory. But, she still needed lots of reminder for that. Link often had to remind her to draw it. (As we know, this eventually gets her into some trouble…)

She concentrated on the battle, and Link's strategies and maneuvers. By this time, it was REALLY mad and was charging at Link with ferocious blows. It struck, and just when Meghan thought Link would evade…

"Stupid monster!" Meghan yelled unconsciously. It had struck him across his stomach, knocking him completely back. _Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh oh my gosh!_ She thought as she started towards him.

"No stay back! It's OK, it didn't hurt that much." He said as he quickly stood, but with a certain extent of pain. It went away within a few seconds. But he had barely enough time to recover until the stupid monster came again. Meghan backed back up as he hit it with one more blow…

Suddenly the armor fell off. Nabooru, woken up from command of the sisters, stood up straight. She started talking to Link.

Meghan walked towards Link. Just then, Kotake and Koume appeared. They said something to Link and then they were going to throw those magic things at Nabooru. "Nabooru! Watch out!" Meghan screamed. She ran forward, past Link to get Nabooru out of the way. They fired. Meghan was almost there…

Then a hand gripped her arm, stopping her just before she got to Nabooru. The magic hit the lone Gerudo, and Meghan struggled against Link's grip as she watched Nabooru fall to her knees in pain. She collapsed on the floor.

"No!" Meghan screamed. She tried to break free; she wanted to beat up those idiots!

"Meghan, no. It's over." He said as she stopped struggling.

"A feisty one you got there!" Kotake said.

"Yes."

"If you want to save Nabooru, come fight us!" they started going away.

"And don't let that little girl there interfere!" they said, completely invisible. "We don't want to have to deal with her, but if we have to…"

"Get back here!" Meghan yelled, "I am not little!" Nabooru was still on the ground. She started to run towards her, but was held back. As she struggled, Nabooru disappeared before her eyes. Meghan let out an exasperated cry.

"Meghan, calm down. There's nothing we can do." She stopped pulling. He pulled her into a gentle hug. "What's wrong today?"

"I don't know." She sighed. She looked up at him, and then pulled away. He let her go. "I guess I just miss home. I have been here for a while by now."

" I see. I told you that I would help you get home, though." She walked a few steps away, towards the door.

"_But I'm not sure if I want to go home_." She whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "_I don't know anything anymore_."

"But the first step is going to save Nabooru. That will help us get somewhere, I hope." He said, because he had not heard her.

"Let's go."

"Meghan, they could be dangerous."

"Go on…"

"I think you should stay here. They won't show any mercy."

"And why would we want them to? Just tires them out more." She said, drawing the sword and inspecting it as though she didn't care what he said, but was really doing it to hide her face as she waited for her eyes to stop dripping.

"Because. I said so."

"No. I am coming. I'm not weak anymore." (A/N- so she thinks . )

"I'm not going to allow you to be in this battle!"

"Why?" She yelled. "Do you really think I'm that weak?" Link looked at her. The answer was yes, but he couldn't say that.

"No. I just worry." She replaced the sword. She looked at him. His eyes seemed sincere enough. Because it was true, he did worry. But he thought her to be weak, not knowing how capable she was. Which wasn't very capable at the time, but more than he expected.

"I want to help you." She said, her tone of voice convincing and unwavering.

"I don't want you to fight."

"Then let me cheer you on. The room in there…it's not like the battle takes place on the whole floor like some others. It's a platform sort of thing. There's a center square, raised high above the floor. You climb to the top there. Four squares are around the outside. You must use your shield to reflect one of their magic spells at the other. Then they will sort of fuse, and together they will either send an ice or fire attack at you." He was listening very intently. "You must target them, and choose one of the attacks. Like if you choose ice, then don't let the fire hit you. You must only let the ice hit your shield, and if you get hit with fire on your shield, it will stop charging power and you'll have to start over. But if you get hit, I do believe that you have to start over again…or not. I can't remember. So don't get hit. Get it so far?"

"Yeah, so first I have to hit one with another's attack, right?"

"Yes."

"And then when they fuse, I have to only let my shield get hit by one power, either fire or ice. And I can't get hit by either one or else I'll have to start over."

"Yup."

"Then what?"

"When your shield has charged up with all the power it can hold, it will reflect it back at Twinrova-that's their name. They will fall on one of the side platform things, and you have to go hit them with your sword before they get up. And that's it. So you really only need your shield and sword."

"OK, I think I got it." Meghan smiled up at him with one of those 'please' smiles.

"And you may come in, but you are not to enter the battle. Understood?"

"Yes daddy."

"What?"

"You gave me so many orders, I mistook you for my father. Sorry."

"O…K…. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah…" she pretended to be angry "I guess so."

"Come on." Meghan drew her sword.

"I told you you wouldn't be needing that."

"I don't recall you ever saying those exact words."

"Fine. But, like I said TWO SECONDS AGO, you won't be needing that."

"YOU'RE the one who always tells me to have it out, just in case."

"Fine! Just…." He took in a deep breath. "Don't interfere."

"Yes sir!" She said, saluting him like in the army or something. He walked forward towards the door. "Don't worry Nabooru, the Hero of Time is coming!"

"Hero of Time?" He said, looking back at her. He knew what he was, Sheik had told him, but people did not normally call him that.

"Yes. That's what you are. The Hero of Time."

"I know that, but I'm just not used to it." _Don't you remember?_ _He thought, thinking back to that time on the top of Impa's house. _He was in front of the door. Meghan ran to catch up with him. It opened, and they entered.

They walked slowly inside the door closed loudly behind them, and Meghan let out a squeak. Link, who was walking ahead of her, stopped and turned around.

"You have to go up there." She said, pointing.

"OK." Meghan looked at him, and he looked back at her. "Meghan, I can tell this is going to be dangerous."

"How?"

"I don't know. But the outcome of this is unclear…usually I'm bursting with over-confidence when I fight a boss of a temple. Today…I'm not so sure."

"You can do this." She said, smiling at him. "I know you can." And he smiled that sad, sad smile at her again.

"Thank you. But, just in case…" before he could finish what he was going to do, Meghan interrupted.

"In case? What do you think is going to happen? Are your thoughts THAT bad?"

"No, but I don't trust myself."

"How do you not trust yourself? I trust you more than I trust anyone else I've ever met, because of what you are. Because of WHO you are. I know I didn't trust you as soon as we met, but now I do. And it's pathetic because I've known you for all of two and a half weeks and you've known yourself for your whole life, save seven years, and you can't even trust yourself! That's so stupid it's practically irrelevant! Not possible." Link seemed to be knocked back into a world that made sense after this speech.

He sighed. "You're right Meghan. I have no idea what I was saying." But the truth was, even though he DID trust himself, he still doubted himself and he had to make sure everything was right if anything did go wrong. "But." He began in a more serious tone, "Just to show that**_ I_** trust you, I want you to keep this for now, until the battle is over." He took her hand and deposited something in it. He closed her fingers around it. She looked down into her hand. A bit of blue showed from the side of her hand, and a mouthpiece with a Triforce engraved on it stuck out near her wrist.

"But…this is not mine! I'll lose it, I'll break it, and I'll do something to it!"

"No you won't, because I trust you."

"Nobody really trusts ME."

"Then I guess I'm nobody." She smiled at him. He paused for a second. "But if anything happens to me,"

"Goddesses forbid."

"I want you to play the Prelude of Light and get out of here as soon as possible. Find Saria, find any sage and give it to them."

"That's not going to happen. But I'll take care of it for now. But you have to promise to not hurt yourself…"

"I promise."

"Good. Now, go kill some witches!"

"Right." He walked away, towards the platform. He climbed it. And Meghan watched the whole way from the floor, squeezing the Ocarina of Time in her hand.

A cackling laughter filled the room.

"I see you decided to come!" Kotake said.

"A very unwise decision, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you." Link said. They ignored him.

"But…" They said, turning their attention to Meghan on the ground. "We said she was not to interfere."

"She won't."

"You can never trust little Hylian girls these days."

"I am no Hylian!" Meghan yelled. They ignored her.

"She should not be here to begin with! And second, she is a distraction." They prepared to fire at her, just as they did to Nabooru.

"Meghan, watch out!" The magic balls were heading towards her in what seemed to be slow motion.

_They're coming oh my gosh what do I do?_ She jumped to the side and rolled sideways. They exploded, just missing Meghan. She was sitting on the floor, breathing hard. _Man, that was close! _She sat there, and looked up at Link. He seemed really mad.

"Listen! Your fight is with ME! LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!" He yelled. It was scary to Meghan. He had never yelled like that!

He positioned himself, his shield on his arm and Master Sword in his left hand. _Mister lefty! I forgot he was left-handed! How the heck did I ever not notice before? _Meghan thought.

"Alright. But, if you lose, then our business is with her! She decided to come, she has to play!"

"_I won't fail._" He whispered. "_I promised._"

Their cackling began again as they attacked. Link reflected Kotake's attack at Koume. He fought them with such ferocity Meghan actually became scared of him. _Whoa, note to self, don't want to get on the wrong side of him._

When he had beaten them up enough- without, may I add, getting hurt at all- they were ready to fuse into Twinrova. They did. That thing was UGLY!

"_So, this is how you play,_" Link whispered to himself. "_Prepare to die!_" He said as he swung the sword in a circle. The first attack it fired was fire, so he charged that one on his shield. The next one was fire as well. But the third was ice. He jumped to the side, all the way on the edge of the platform.

_OK. In the game, yeah I realize that that's what they do. Throw random attacks at him. But in real life, I thought they would add some sort of twist! I mean, come on! They just LET him charge his shield up, without even ATTEMPTING to stop him from doing it! Link you idiot! How could you ever doubt yourself!_

The fourth thrown was another fire. His shield, which was 'blinking,' reflected the attack back at Twinrova. It fell with a shriek onto a side platform opposite Meghan. He charged at it, sword in his hand. He jumped over the gap and stabbed it, then slashed it twice more before it got up.

"Yeah!" Meghan said. He jumped back to the center, once more targeting with the help of Navi. He charged up on fire again. Twinrova fell again, this time he became even fiercer. He slashed the monster. He slashed again. Then again. Meghan winced. She did NOT EVER want to be on the receiving end of that sword.

Twinrova recovered again. Meghan wondered…_he has not gotten hit so far…is he that serious about keeping this promise? Or is that just luck? _

He hit his shield with an ice this time. It started blinking again.

Twinrova fired a fire attack. He went to evade. The thing grew a brain.

Just as it was about to fire, Twinrova redirected the attack to where Link had jumped. He stepped in the burning flames. He let out a cry in agony. Meghan watched in horror as he looked as though he was burning alive.

"Link!" He tried to recover from the burning, as he had fallen to his knees. He stood, but only to greet yet another attack. This one was ice. He froze, half standing. "Link!" She screamed again, tears forming in her eyes. He had been doing so well until this moment. _Battle is so dangerous. One wrong move and…_

_I have to help!_

_But…he kept his promise until now as best he could, so I must keep mine. He'll be fine. I know he will._

But he was still frozen. He finally broke free, after what seemed like an eternity to Meghan. He stood for a second, unstable and wobbly. Then he fell, hard.

"**_LINK!_**" She screamed with all her might. "Get up!" he seemed to be conscious, but unable to move. He was near the edge of the platform, so Meghan could see him even though he was on the ground. He was twitching, trying to get up. He had fallen face first. She could see his hands moving to push himself upward, but he seemed to not have enough strength to get up.

"Fairy! I need a fairy…" she realized that the fairy he had with him would not come, he was not dead. His life meter still was full enough, but he was weak. For once. "Get up Link! Come on! I know you can!" Tears once again formed in her eyes. He must have heard her. Adrenaline rushed enough for him to get up, just enough.

Twinrova seemed to enjoy his suffering. Before he had time to get his shield in place, it fired another fire attack. He let out a sort of cry in surprise and pain.

_This can't go on any longer. That stupid fairy! There's got to be something I can do! They'll keep doing that; they won't give him a chance to even stand if they are allowed to._

Link was again on the floor. He had fallen…and did not get up this time.

"Link! This is NOT at all like the game! You're not supposed to fall until you're dead! And I know you're not!" She screamed while crying. Whether he heard her or not, she was not sure. But she kept screaming. "You idiot! Get up! Come on! Think of all that's at stake!" She hesitated for a second. Then she ran forward.

"Meghan! Link told you to go away if anything happened!" Navi squeaked, from her spot on Link's head.

"I can't Navi…I just can't."

"Link, get up!" She ran and prepared to climb. But then she heard a faint voice.

"No. Stay back, I'm OK." Link said as he pushed himself up with shaking arms.

"Just one more hit!" Twinrova roared. "Then Gannondorf will be very happy!"

"Touch him and you'll have to go through me!" Meghan yelled as she drew her sword. She climbed up so she could just see on top of the platform, her left arm holding her at the top and her right holding the sword.

"Oh, we're terribly scared! Remind me to faint later!"

"You won't have time to!" Link yelled as he charged at it, his sword in both hands. It had made a very foolish mistake of hovering too close to the ground.

He slashed it, and before Meghan realized what he had done, a head was rolling on the floor.

"Wow, that was anticlimactic." Meghan said, ready to throw up. She finished climbing the rest of the way up. Link stood in front of her.

Twinrova defused into Kotake and Koume again.

"Aaah! What happened to us?"

"I don't know!"

"This stinks…"

"Yeah…hey, Kotake, what's that over your head?"

"Huh? I don't know…you have one too!"

"We're not dead, are we?"

"I'm afraid so…" They floated up…hey wait, why are they going up?

"That, too, was anticlimactic." Meghan said as she observed their direction. "In a way. Hey, are you OK?" She said, walking around him to see his face. His head was bowed, looking down at the ground.

"I…almost failed." He whispered. He looked up.

"No you did not. Just because there was a minor glitch in your fighting does not mean you ever were going to fail. It was your destiny to beat them, your destiny to NOT fail."

"But I could have. If you had not been here…"

"I didn't do anything. Well, actually I did everything. If it hadn't been for me, you would not have been fighting the way you were."

"But I almost failed."

"Shh." She said, putting her gloved finger to his lips. "You did NOT fail. You did not. What happened happened. And you didn't. It does not matter what happened in the past, but the future." She removed her hand. "And I just contradicted myself by saying that. I am not homesick anymore. I will not mourn for the past. Only remember."

She looked into his eyes. The looked more relaxed now, not troubled because of what almost happened.

"Now we have more import things to do. Are you all right?" She inspected him. He seemed to be OK. Besides a rip where the Iron Knuckles had hit him in his tunic, a small cut on his left ear (Which was NOTbleeding) and various burn marks on his clothes, he was OK. "You look fine."

"I am all right. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, a bit grossed out but nothing too serious."

"That's good."

"I'm glad you're OK." They looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Uh, Nabooru is waiting. We should go." He said, breaking the staring and the silence.

"Of course." They walked toward the blue gem-shaped thing on the side platform. Before they got there, Link picked up another heart container, giving him nineteen.

"That's better." He said. They hopped over the gap, and entered the blue thing at the same time.

**In the Sacred Realm**

"…Take this, the Spirit Medallion!" Nabooru raised her hands above her head, and a shimmering bronze-colored Medallion came from the sky. Link took it, but from there, what he did with it was a mystery…because within a few seconds they were bathed in white lights, covering everything they saw. They only heard Nabooru say:

"If only I had known how handsome you would become," (Gag from Link) "But I see you're taken." (Gag_ and_ pout from Meghan)

"That was wrong…" Meghan said as soon as they were back from the Sacred Realm. She walked a few steps, making it look like she was going to throw up, holding her stomach and making gagging sounds. Link chuckled.

"Oh, wait, don't step off the…too late." A bunch of monsters appeared. Meghan giggled insanely as she swatted at the monsters very lightly. You know when you laugh too hard and you can't do things properly? Exactly what happened. She ended up giving up and walking back to the platform.

"Dude, I am SOO wiped out." She said after giggling for a while. With one last sigh, she stopped.

"Are you done?"

"Yes, because there's someone waiting at the Temple of Time for you." Navi said.

"Since when?" Link said.

"Rauru told us just before we came back here."

"We were too busy barfing." Meghan said.

"We should go and see them…do you think it could be…?"

"Be who?"

"…Never mind." Navi said.

"Come on Link," Meghan said, giving him a hard pat (More like a hit) on the back that sent him lurching forward. "We should go see her."

"Who?"

"I mean…_him…"_ she said mysteriously.

"Who is it?"

"You'll have to wait and _see_."

"You always make me 'wait and see.'"

"I'll give you a hint. _Covered in shadows, silent steps step throughout the land. Shadowed creatures, taller than a Hylian. Who is this green monkey? Or should I say, clad in blue…_" This resulted in a lot of staring.

"Meghan, did you like…you're crazy today." _Mood swings _he thought. "… But I don't know."

"Did I…you don't know? My clues don't help?"

"No, sorry but no."

"You seriously don't get it?"

"No."

"Then you're helpless. Look, if you're that curious, then let's go already!"

"OK, OK."She took out the Ocarina. She played the Prelude of Light.. Within seconds, they were at the Temple. They stood for just a second, absorbing the usual two-second shock after teleporting.

"Nobody's here." Then, as to answer his call, a figure appeared suddenly before them.

"Somebody is here, Hero." Sheik was before them, standing in their way of the exit of the Temple. "Somebody is always here." She paused for a few seconds. "Through all the legends, through all the prophecies, never has this been foretold."

"What would that be?" Link inquired as Navi and Meghan listened carefully.

"The hero never had a human helper," She said, pointing with her palm facing up towards Meghan. "Only but a fairy one. The gods of our worlds collided, in an argument that may have ended up saving Hyrule."

"Where is that from?" Meghan thought aloud. It definitely wasn't from the game, or was it? But where had she heard that same thing…the gods had a fight…where? Then suddenly she remembered hearing that godly voice…

"_I am sorry for the trouble caused…let it be known that the gods will never fight again." …_

"_I will take back the trouble caused for you…the girl…" …_

"_It was foolish of me to think that a human girl could cause trouble in your world. You have such great heroes…though, mine at the moment has none." …_

"_Fine. I shall allow her to stay, providing she does not show you any trouble. Then, and only then, she must leave. Thank you, Goddesses of Hyrule, Nayru, Din, and Farore…"_

"That was…from my dream that day I came here…"

"When you ran away?" Link asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Dude, I didn't even remember that until now."

"You had the same dream?" Sheik asked. Link looked at her. (Him) Zelda mentally slapped herself for asking that out loud.

"You have dreams that foretell things?" Meghan asked to cover for her. Sheik was quick to respond.

"The Sheikah have been favored by the gods. There is an old Sheikah legend that tells of the ancient tribe and how the gods helped them…but while on the subject of ancient Sheikah legends…" Sheik paused for a second, then continued. "Yes, I must share with you the legend…" Sheik shared the legend of the Triforce and its keepers. She told of what would happen if evil took the Triforce, and what would happen if a pure person took it. (Dude, I am telling the right one, right? Dude, I would ask Link but he has no idea what this story is about and I don't want to tell him and he's a pain…curse me if I'm telling the wrong one! (Or just tell me in a review) )

"The holder of the Triforce of Power is obviously Gannondorf. He is evil, so the pieces went to others. The holder of the Triforce of Courage is…you, Link, you are the one destined to hold it." Link's hand shone with a golden triangle, the lower right triangle glowing. "And the Triforce of Wisdom…" Sheik crossed her hands, left on top and a Triforce showed. With a small 'hah!' sound, a screen of light came around Sheik as she transformed.

Standing before Link was Princess Zelda. She stood, head bowed down and hand up so he could see the Triforce clearly on her hand.

Link gasped. He looked from her to Meghan, then back to Zelda. "Princess…Zelda? Meghan did you know?"

"Nooooo…" Meghan smiled and looked up into the sky, the picture of fake innocence. Zelda suppressed a chuckle, putting her Triforce-engraved hand to her mouth.

"It seems as if everyone was plotting against you and your fairy, Link. You need not call me princess, either. The way I see it, we are equals. We are both holders of the Triforce. However, some holders are quite different…" she said, directing a sad gaze towards Link. "Some are monsters. _One_ is, I should say." Although she did not say whom, it was obvious, being that there was only one other holder.

"I see…" Link said.

"But we mustn't despair, for although a great evil walks the earth at the time, it shall soon be gone! Link, with that sword, and something else, you will be able defeat him!"

"What else is there?" Link asked. Meghan knew. Zelda stepped forward. She used her magic, and some arrows appeared above their heads. They lowered into Link's hands.

"These are the Light Arrows! They, along with your sword, are weapons of evil's bane. They also are magic. As long as you have normal arrows and magic, they will turn themselves into Light Arrows. So, no magic is really needed, as long as you already have some." She said, looking over towards Meghan. "I'm not sure if someone who can't use magic can use them, though."

"That's OK. We'll figure something out."

"Like I just won't use them."

"But you never know when you might need them…"

"Heh, heh…heh…" and evil laugh sounded. " I knew if I let this kid run around for long enough, he would lead me to you, Princess Zelda!" Link looked around, drawing his sword. "Looks like I underestimated the strength of this kid, no, the Triforce of Courage."

"NO!" Meghan said. She had forgotten what was going to happen. If only she had remembered to warn them, Gannondorf would not take her! "Zelda, watch out!" Meghan said. But she was too late. The pink bubble formed around Zelda. "Zeld, no!" Meghan cried. Link ran up to it and banged on it, then punched it with all of his might. Zelda, with a scared look on her face, looked at him, and shook her head.

"It's no use, Link." Meghan said. Tears streamed from her eyes. "We have to go to his castle and save her."

"That little girl knows too much. Well, saved my breath! Heh heh heh heh" Zelda disappeared.

"No! We have to go save her."

"I should have warned you…"

"I should have saved her…"

"No more dwelling in the past, though. Let's go." Meghan and Link ran out of the Temple to Gannondorf's castle. They ignored the redeads, who Meghan was no longer afraid of. Well, a bit. They reached the castle, and even almost entered it. The sages made the bridge for them, but then Link remembered.

"Meghan, we just returned from a Temple. We have no arrows besides a few, and barely other weapons. We won't get far without them."

"We can get them in there."

"We also need other things…"

"Link, I told you we can get them in there!" Meghan said, confused as to why he just didn't listen to her.

"Zelda will have to wait." He told her.

"But why can't we just get things in there?"

"Because I want to get potion."

"But they have that in there too…"

"I just don't want to get anything from in there." He said, stepping off the bridge. "I don't trust it."

"OK, but we must HURRY! Who knows what will happen if we wait too long in real life…for once I don't trust the game because it has proved to be wrong."

"Right. First I would like to go to the potion shop at Kakariko…"

"Please, let's hurry." Link played the Nocturne of Shadow, teleporting to the graveyard. They jumped down from where they were and ran fast past all the Poes. They hurriedly went to one of the potion shops, and taking the back door got to the second one. They got two bottles of blue potion, one for Meghan, and one for Link. When Meghan went to put the Potion in her backpack, she noticed something shining on the bottom.

"Link, what's this?" She said, pulling out a small knife, no bigger than her hand. Its hilt was red, like the stone on the Kokiri sword. In fact, the whole thing looked like a Kokiri Sword, only smaller and its hilt different. It had a small sheath even.

"A knife. For…stuff."

"Do you expect me to kill somebody with it?"

"No…but it was nice looking and I thought of you when I saw it."

"Thank you." She tucked it in between her hip and her pants, where she could draw it easily, but the sheath would not come out.

"Now we have to find arrows, and some bombs might help…"

"Where can we get them really fast?"

"They sell some stuff at the bazaar…but I'm not sure how much money I have left."

"Link, you shouldn't have bought me this then." She said, pointing at her backpack. "And this." She motioned to her knife.

"Then we'll have to find some stuff."

"That would take way too long."

"We don't have any choice." For the first time in a very long time, she was genuinely TRULY mad at him. _He's so foolish! It's like since I gave him the luxury of knowing everything about all the temples, he stopped thinking properly! Maybe I am clouding his thoughts…as Saria said._

"Where can we get things really fast?"

"Hyrule Field would work."

"Do we have time?"

"We'll make time." He said. She could tell that he too wanted to hurry, but he was not exactly rich at the moment (Especially when they needed it) and they needed these things to fight. They were already halfway out of Kakariko.

"We'll make time? That's not an excuse when somebody's life is at stake! Come on!" Meghan said as they ran out of the village. She could feel tension mounting between herself and Link. She was so mad…if he was just not so picky, and careless, this would not have happened. She forgot her promise about not mourning for the past. He was just ignoring her. When they reached the field, Link was going to call Epona. But he remembered that Meghan still had the Ocarina…

"Meghan, I need the Ocarina."

"Are you going to go to Zelda?"

"No. I need Epona."

"No you don't!" Meghan snapped.

"Yes I do!"

"Zelda is in trouble, and I'm not going to stand here and wait!"

"Meghan, we need to get the supplies before we can just barge in and fight him!"

"I'm going, whether you come or not!" and with that, Meghan played the Prelude of Light and warped to the Temple of Time, taking his Ocarina with her.

Meghan chuckled. How foolish she once was. She could never be mad at him! And his thinking had, perhaps, saved their lives.

So much reminiscing gave her so many laughs. So many times…it's hard to believe it could be almost over. Possibly.

She moved herself into a comfortable position, and relaxed into a deep sleep.

MEANWHILE…

Link was dreaming of a girl, firing a special magic attack that wasn't _really_ magic. Looks like they both dream of each other.

**More (Again) interesting info:**

**Uhhh…**

**This chapter is 22 pages long.**

**Notes to people:**

**Kuramas Girl Angel: HURRAY! My VERY first reviewer EVER comes and reviews my favorite story! YIPEE! THANK YOU!**

**DrippingInk: Perfect? I don't know about that…THANK YOU ANYWAY! I UPDATED! WHOO HOO!**

**Lover-Of-Lemons: New REVIEWER! THANKIES! LOTS AND LOTS!**

**Jade2824: THANK YOU! Did I update soon enough? This one took a while…**

**SerenitytheFaierikin:…………? YEAH**


	50. DAY TWO: Nabooru's Undying Deceit

**Day Two**

Meghan's eyes opened to see the light streaming in through Saria's window. It made a ray of light on the floor, stretching across the room. She sat up and yawned, eager to start the day. She got off the bed and went to change her clothes. She sighed. Her favorite shirt, the one she wore the day she came to Hyrule, was ripped and too bloody for her to even want it back. It was the one she had worn when she fought Gannondorf. Her gloves were goddesses know where, and they, too, were probably not something she wanted to wear. The first pair of black pants was gone too.

She put on the second black shirt and her jeans. She looked at herself in the mirror. She reconsidered. She pulled off the black shirt, and replaced it with the white shirt. She had never worn it before, and now that she did, she liked it the best. She tied her hair back into a ponytail, considering the place they were most likely to go. She left a strand of her bangs in her face. She looked over to where all her clothes were, a few but enough to live with. Underneath all the black clothes, she noticed a bit of white. Completely forgetting what else she had there that was white, she made a face and pulled the shirt off of the white. She saw the white gloves. She hadn't worn them either. She rolled up her sleeves, then pulled them on, then rolled the sleeves back down.

She examined herself in the mirror. She realized that she was skinnier than before she came to Hyrule. But, what she lacked in weight she certainly made up for in strength. She was a lot stronger than she ever was. Thanks to the continuous fighting.

She almost put the Kokiri Sword on, but decided not to. What could possibly happen? Instead she just equipped the pocket knife.

She set out, in search of Link. She took a quick look around the forest. Normally he'd be there. _I wonder where he is. Well, I'm not too worried, considering all the monsters should be gone. What kind of trouble could he possibly get into?_

After not finding him right away, she went to the Great Deku Tree's clearing. He was not there either.

_Hmm, maybe he went out of the forest._ She was going to leave the forest, but then she walked by his house. _I didn't look in there._ She snuck up the ladder very quietly. Maybe she could scare him. _Yeah right._

She quietly went across the balcony and entered the house. She laughed silently at the sight.

_Well, that's a first. _She saw him, sleeping. That was kind of scary. She went up to him and kneeled on the floor beside his bed. She gently shook his shoulder.

"Wake up, Link. Get up, sleepy head!" She said quietly. He was quiet for a second, and then slowly his eyes opened. He blinked a few times, taking in the sight before him.

"What…" he said, sitting up. He looked down at her, and she stood.

"Come on, Mister Hylian! Time to go places! Do things, see people!"

"Oh, right, right." He said tiredly, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "OK."

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I want to see you in your GORON tunic, and comb your hair!" she commanded, like a mother.

"Where are we going?" He said, standing up.

"We're going to go where you told me we were going to go yesterday!"

"And where was that again?" he said, still half asleep.

"If you don't remember, you'll just have to wait and see…" she said. " Bye."

"Yeah…But-" but she was already out the door. He drew the thing that served as a door.

MEANWHILE…

Meghan jumped down the ladder most of the way. She skipped out to the small waterfall near the middle of the forest. She stepped in the shallow part of the water, and put her hands underneath the clear, clean water. She cupped her hands and filled them with water, then brought it to her mouth. The cool water was refreshing. She shook her hands dry, looked around, and planned.

_So, we're going to the desert…hmmm…_ She thought of what she should do there as she filled an empty bottle with water from the waterfall. _Uh, I have no idea. _Yes, it was a good idea but what were they going to do? I know this seems weird, but when you may have only six days left, it was very BIG matter. She had no idea what to do, so she decided that it would be best to just go with whatever happens, as she learned to do a lot around here. She put the now full bottle in her pack, fitting it in with the rest of the things in there. (Another empty bottle and the Fairy Ocarina)

She walked back to Link's house.

Just as she reached it, he came out. He jumped down from the balcony, in a Goron tunic that wasn't all ripped up. _Where the heck did he get a new one? _She remembered._ I completely forgot about that when I told him to get changed!_

Just as she was noticing his new clothes, he noticed hers. "You have not worn that shirt before, if I remember correctly. Or those gloves, for that matter."

"No, I haven't."

"And something's different." She waited patiently as he tried to place it. "Um…hair's the same…I think. Although you don't wear it up that often."

"Nice observations." She said, freaked out. _He sure notices a lot of things._

"And…wait a second! Where's your sword?"

"Don't be silly, Link. Why would I need it anymore?" He considered this.

"I don't know. It's just sort of an automatic thing for me…it's been a while since I haven't had a sword with me all the time."

"Yeah, since you decided to take a nap." She joked.

"Hey! I was tired. I think that after fighting Gannondorf, I could have a bit of a rest."

"Yes. You're right. But, anyway, you're a fighter, a warrior, a HERO OF TIME, so I'd expect you to have a sword with you. Besides, it's just kind of, 'I don't know. It's just part of the…look.'" She said. She looked at him, giving him a 'do you remember that?' look.

"Where have I heard that?" He thought for a while. "Hey…wait…"

"Quoted exactly, from you to me." Meghan said strangely. "Now from me to you. Shall we go?"

"Sure," He said, dropping the subject. He just gave up for once in his life with her. Sometimes he wondered what where she came from was really like, why she was so strange to him. But of course, understanding her was like a whole new challenge, and he could never pass up a good challenge. They walked out of the forest in silence at a normal pace. Meghan waved to all the little Kokiri girls as she passed. They all looked at her in what seemed like awe as they exited the forest. They also crossed the bridge in silence.

When they had reached the field, Link was going to call Epona. But when he started to reach in his pocket, he remembered.

"Oh, that's right," He said slowly. "Zelda has the Ocarina of Time now." He sighed.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't be completely deprived of your music." Meghan said, smiling. She took the Fairy Ocarina out of the backpack.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot you still had it!" He said, taking it from her offering hand. He held it for a second, remembering the feel of the instrument from his childhood. He slowly brought it to his lips, and then put it back down.

"This means we can't warp anymore."

"We'll make do. You DO have a horse, don't you? If I recall correctly, that's who you were going to call." She smiled. He smiled too.

"OK. You convinced me." He brought the ocarina to his mouth again, and played Epona's Song. A few seconds later, cantering could be heard in the distance. They walked from the narrow place leading to the forest to the field, and saw Epona cantering towards them.

"Hello Epona," Meghan greeted. "How are you today?" Epona let out a shrill whinny. "What was that supposed to be?" she asked Epona as she gently stroked her velvety nose.

"That's her way of saying good."

"You speak her language, don't you?" Meghan joked.

"Well, sort of."

"Come on, Fairy Boy! You've known her for a while." Meghan called him by his nickname. She had a lot of them for him by now, like Mister Hylian, Fairy Boy, and Green Monkey (Well actually she called Sheik that too) (Don't ask)

Meghan giggled. She mounted the horse, using just the stirrups as Link did. (She has gotten good at it!)

"We'd better get going. Nous avons aller. Maintenant."

"Yeah, well -." He said. She looked at him skeptically.

"Do you even know what I said?"

"Do you know what _I_ said?"

"I asked you first."

"OK, no I don't know."

"I said we have to go now."

"OK, and what did I say?"

"You said something to do with going somewhere…to the cow?"

"No." he said. "That's not what I said. Believe it or not." He rolled his eyes. (Author's question: Do boys roll their eyes? HELP!)

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"OK. You must have said something to do with where we're going."

"Most likely." He said sarcastically.

"You said we have to go to the…the…the…I have no idea."

"To see a desert colossus."

"That's what you said?"

"Yes."

"That's cool. So you finally figured it out?... A desert colossus." She repeated, taking in the beautiful flow of the words. She remembered that place so vividly…perhaps now it wasn't flooded with monsters.

"Shall we go?" He asked, hoisting himself into the saddle. She nodded. She thought of how they were always procrastinating, whenever hey were going to go somewhere. It always turned into a conversation before they actually got anywhere. Ah, well, such is the life of a "hero on the go".

Meghan listened to the rhythmic sounds of the beating of Epona's hooves…it made her sleepy. She sat, feeling the up-and-down movement of the trot Epona had started off with. In a few seconds, Link pushed her into a canter, though no faster because it would be too much for her. It was kind of hard to talk while on a horse, because the continuous bumping made their voices all distorted so they had given that up a while ago. So they rode in silence.

But, it was not only the fact of Epona's rhythm; it was they had NO idea what to talk about. I mean, what do you talk about when you have a possible limited amount of time? This is exactly what they were wondering. Conversation never really came easy to Meghan…and Link just plain had nothing to say.

Eventually, the silent ride became unbearable to Meghan. She had been thinking just normal things that a girl would think about. But then her thoughts led her to the days she had left…and wondered what she would do if she had to return to her old life. Sure, she missed everyone at her old life, the human ways and _technology._ Ah, technology. Her email was probably piling up, she hadn't played a video game in a while of any sort, and oh, the simple laziness of a telephone. How she missed it. But upon realizing what she was thinking, she remembered. She was not to mourn for the past, only remember. And she did remember. But at this point, she had no idea which side to take on the matter.

Did she want to stay? Did she want to go back? What would she do? She did a thing with her mind that she often used to do. She gave herself a worst-case scenario situation. If given the choice, would she decide to stay, or go back? She made a list of good and bad things on both sides:

_Good things of staying here: Link…Zelda…Saria, Nabooru…Darunia's cool…The rest of the sages…the beautiful fields, the peaceful times, Link, the swords, the bows…the people…Link…the whole land of Hyrule is beautiful, much better than the polluted place I live in. They're so lucky they don't have technology, it messes everything up even if it is quicker. But magic makes up for what they don't have in tech. And then there's...Link..._

_Good things of leaving: Mom, dad, my brother, my family, my friends, technology, no evil Gannondorf…that's it._

_That's it._

_That's it._

And slowly she realized that she would be best here.

She could never live if she went back.

There were so many reasons to stay. So many people to live here for, so many lovable people. Perhaps Zelda was right a while ago, maybe humans were the most destructive species. It was scary that she was one. But although they were, humans are weak, heartless, cowardly people. They could never be a holder of the Triforce.

She had assimilated into their culture, their ways, even their religion, with the three golden goddesses. She believed, and no. She could never go back now.

Never.

Ever.

Before she knew it, they were crossing over from the grassy fields into a bit of sand, then the dessert. (Mwahahahahaha! Go to VGmusic. Com if you want and go the left side and go to N64 under music, then s-z then all the way on the bottom to Gerudo Valley (Techno remix))

They crossed over the makeshift bridge and over the newly built bridge over the raging river. As they crossed, Meghan braced herself and looked down. She had never really done that before, only once but she had refused to look down that time. She became really scared, it was so far down! She stopped looking and tightened her grip on Link.

They had at last reached the Haunted Wasteland.

"So…what are we going to do here?"

"I was hoping you could answer the same question." Link responded.

"I know what you can do." A voice said. Meghan and Link looked in the direction it came from. They looked out into the Haunted Wasteland.

"I've heard that voice…" Meghan said. Through the raging winds of the sand storms just before them, a figure appeared, walking towards them. She was wearing a sheer cloth over her mouth and nose to block the sand out. Her light, buoyant clothing was blowing in the winds of the storms, her red hair lightly flowing in its position in a high ponytail. Her nose was longer than Link's and Meghan, but her ears were the same shape as Meghan's. They knew that girl... they recognized her as she stepped into clear view.

She chuckled softly. "Hello, Hero of Time," Nabooru said with no sign of interest at all. "Just peachy to see you again." She said flatly. Nabooru walked over to Meghan with elegant strides.

"Yeah…" Link said, still remembering what she said on their last visit.

"Hello Nabooru!" Meghan said, forgetting about all that. Nabooru stepped forward and gave the girl a Gerudo hug.

"Miss Meghan," she began, talking into her ear as she hugged her. "How are you?" she said in her rich voice. It had a certain ringing quality to it, like to persuade people to do things. She let go, and looked at the girl, who was about the same height. "Zelda told me…I'm so terribly sorry!" Nabooru said, again in her deliberate tone. "But while we're here together," she paused, then looked at Link as though she had forgotten him, "While we're ALL here together," She looked back at Meghan, "Then I have decided that I can give you guys something to do! Come, Meghan!" She took Meghan's arm in hers and led her back into the desert, completely ignoring Link. Meghan realized this and turned her head as they walked away. She smiled.

"Come on, silly!" She told him. He stared for a few seconds, then followed, feeling rejected. They trudged through the desert, Link following slightly behind Nabooru and Meghan. They were chatting, but because of the howling winds, Link couldn't hear what they were saying.

_Girl things…something I wouldn't want to hear anyway, probably._

"So, Meghan, our enthusiastic human," Nabooru began out of earshot of Link, "what's up with you and Link?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Meghan. Don't try THAT with me. I've lived around girls my whole life. You would think I would know some things."

"I can't tell you." Meghan said.

"Why not? I can keep a secret."

"Yes, I'm sure you can. I just don't want to talk about that."

"Of course, darling." Nabooru grinned a wide, Gerudo quality

They had, at last, reached the Desert Colossus. They walked through it. The small green blobs that would normally bombard them held back.

"They obey the Gerudo and protect our desert lands." Nabooru explained to Meghan, with Link listening. She lowered the cloth over her mouth and nose. "But when Evil Ganondorf had taken over…they only listened to him and not the true Gerudo. Every monster of the dessert does the same."

"Cool." Meghan said. "So, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"That makes me nervous." Meghan said. Link and she followed Nabooru all the way to the entrance of the Spirit Temple. "Why are we going in there?"

"Because it is much more than a Temple, my dear." Nabooru said. "It is my place."

"Your place?"

"Where I keep my most valuable belongings. You should be more careful with your belongings." Nabooru said, looking straight forward at the temple and not to Meghan's face.

"What are you talking about?"

"I would think you would be wiser, yet you walked all the way here without realizing."

"What do you mean?" Meghan said, now scared. Nabooru looked over her shoulder at Meghan, with a wicked smile on her face. She slowly moved her hand up to her face, near her cheek, where she showcased a small blade no larger than her hand. Meghan stepped back. "Wait, that's mine!" Meghan said, as she checked the pocket sheath. It was empty. Link stepped at her side.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Nabooru's smile faded. She turned and faced them.

"A knife is dangerous to have around Gerudos." Nabooru said seriously. She moved the blade in front of her face, crossing it to her side. "You should know better."

"Nabooru, please give it back." Link asked.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Nabooru said, swinging it in circles around her fingers. She drew it back, aiming towards Meghan as if to strike. Link moved front of her and held his arm out so she couldn't get to Meghan easily.

"Nabooru, don't do this!"

Suddenly…

Little snorts came from Nabooru.

Then small giggles. Then she bent over, holding her stomach and laughing hysterically. "You guys…ha ha ha…actually fell for that?" She took a few seconds to calm down, then wiped her eyes and stepped forward and handed the knife to Meghan. Meghan blinked a few times, and then realized what just happened.

"OH! OK, Nabooru! You scared me!" Meghan said, smiling. "I get it now."

"You should be more careful, you know. Don't let a Gerudo take that. They may not give it back. Pick pocketing is one of the first things a young Gerudo girl learns. People like me get good at it." Meghan replaced it in her sheath. Link just looked back between Meghan and Nabooru. Then Nabooru and Meghan.

"Link, helooo…" Meghan said, waving her hand in his face. "It was a JOKE."

"A joke?" he said, still not completely understanding. He blinked a few times, trying to comprehend.

"Yes, silly."

"Oh! A joke!" He started laughing. Meghan looked at Nabooru, who looked back at her. Finally he stopped laughing.

"Are you finished? Because if you are, I'd like to get going." Nabooru said impatiently to him. He looked at her.

"Yes, I am finished." He said flatly.

"Come! I have things to show you!" Nabooru said. She walked over to the left side of the temple. All the way in the corner was a trap door in the floor…that neither of them had seen ever before.

"Whoa…" Meghan said. Nabooru opened the door and walked into it. Meghan hesitated a second, then followed. Directly inside it were some stairs; correction, a lot of stairs. They descended in a very dim passage way, every about ten feet there was a small, dim torch on the wall and it was so dark they could barely see the person in front of them. It was a near miracle they didn't trip, but Nabooru seemed to be having no problem at all.

After many steep, narrow stairs, they seemed to have stopped. At the bottom a few torches lit it up, and Meghan realized that Nabooru was actually farther ahead of her than she thought. She had stopped at a door a few feet from the last step. It was a large door that had a few locks on it. Meghan looked to the side, where there was a small hallway. At the end there were more stairs. It was pitch black down there.

Nabooru waved her hand over the three locks. Each opened with a small click as she moved her hand over it.

"You can use magic?" Link asked.

"No, could not before. These are magic locks. But, since I became a sage, a can use it. Quite useful in some situations."

"Yeah." Link said. Meghan pouted.

"Hey, I don't know any magic! That's not fair!"

"Neither do I, it just _comes._" Nabooru said jokingly. "But you don't see me complaining, do you?" she said sarcastically.

"Hey, no more jokes. I don't trust you with them."

"You should never trust a Gerudo."

"What about a sage?" Link cut in.

"That, my friend, you can do." Nabooru smiled, then turned and opened the door. It was pitch black inside. And eerily silent. Nabooru pulled Meghan inside, and then pulled Link in and closed the door.

"Uhh…It's dark in here." She put her hand on her knife. She took a step, and then almost stepped on Nabooru. "Sorry."

"That's OK, dear." She took a step back and almost fell, landing back on Link.

"Sorry." He grabbed her arm tightly, not purposely, but because he didn't know where she was, and helped her back to her feet.

"That's OK."

"Nabooru, what are we doing in the dark here?" There was silence. "Nabooru?" her heart started beating fast. She turned to where she thought Link was. "Link, are you there?"

"Yes."

"Good. But where's Nabooru? Where are we?" She walked forward, trying to find him. She put her hand out in front of her. She bumped his arm. Then they heard a sound. It was a sound like somebody was walking towards them with large, heavy steps. She grabbed his arm very tightly. The steps were still walking towards them.

"Navi, get out here. We need your light." Navi flew out, quivering. She let off a bit of Light, but just enough for Link to see Meghan's face and she to see his. The light didn't extend to the ground.

"Nabooru, is that you?" she asked, even tough she knew those weren't the light, sly steps of a thief, much less Nabooru. They sounded almost metallic on the floor…

With his other arm, Link drew the Biggoron sword. She knew if he was going to use it, she had to let go but she really didn't want to. She looked up towards his face, to see his expression, if he was scared or not.

Then the steps seemed to be coming from behind. She turned, now grabbing his arm with both hands. She still saw nothing.

"OK, seriously. Nabooru, this is not funny now!" The steps were coming from both directions, back and front. They had no where to go, they had no idea where they were, but Link knew not to panic. They had both been in worse situations. But Meghan was scared.

The steps were now close, and seemed to surround them. Navi squeaked and flew back into his tunic. "Navi, we need you!" He yelled as he whispered. She quivered and didn't come out.

The sounds now came from all sounds except Link's left side, where he held his sword. There must have been a wall there. Link turned and slowly backed up, and his foot hit the wall. He took Meghan's hands from his arm and led her over to the wall, and put her up against it. She pulled her knife from her sheath. Not that it would help much. She wished she had her sword.

He then stood in front of her, and readied his sword.

* * *

OK...I should have the next chapter done VERY soon. It's halfway there, I just wanted to possibly torture you by having a CLIFFIE! I don't think I've ever done one before...(Or have I?) It's not a very good clifhanger, though. 


	51. DAY TWO: PART TWO: How Did This Happen?

Then the foot steps stopped. They now heard no steps at all. Meghan's breathing was short and rapid. She tried to make it silent, but she was way too scared. They stood there for a few seconds. Then Link reached his hand back towards Meghan, found her arm then her hand and led her forward.

"Come on," he whispered. "They've gone."

"How do you know?" she whispered.

"I can't sense them anymore." He led her forward.

"Where are we going?" she whispered.

"Out of here." She followed him for a while, 'Link'ed by their hands through the dark room, hallway or whatever it was that they were in.

"How do you know where we're going?"

"I don't." Meghan just kept following him. But they didn't know they were actually going further into the dilemma than they anticipated.

"That's the second time Nabooru has done something to us today." Meghan whispered.

"I kn…wait, shh…" He had heard a sound and stopped. He let go of her hand, but she squeaked and ran back to him, grabbing his arm.

"What is it?" She barely whispered.

"Shhh…" He turned his head to see if he could see anything. There was silence. Suddenly they heard laughing. Lots of girly evil laughs. It was farther away at first, and then came closer and louder. They were surrounded by it.

Then the lights came on.

"Congratulations on beating Ganondorf!" They were surrounded by many Gerudo. Each was wearing an outfit of about the same style, except different colors. Some had purple, the guards, and some had other colors to specify their ranking. Some of them had scimitars or other blades on their backs, and some were unarmed. But all of them had similar red hair and long noses, and the same ears. Meghan stared for a second.

"All that for nothing?" Meghan murmured to Link. "It was just a bunch of harmless Gerudos!" She quickly let go of Link, then bowed her head in embarrassment. The many Gerudo parted right in front of them.

"Nabooru please don't do that again." Link said as he let out a sigh of relief. Nabooru walked through the parted crowd towards them. "What was all that for?"

"Oh, just having a bit of fun." Nabooru teased, smirking.

"But what was the point of all the scary sounds?" Meghan asked.

"Like I said, dear, just having a bit of fun."

"Gerudo fun is not fun to Hylians. There's a precedent for that." Link said, serious. They all knew, of course, who he was talking about.

"Nabooru told us." A Gerudo in the front, obviously a higher ranking one. She had two blades crossed on her back. "We no longer appreciate what he did. We do know now that he wasn't worth our girls' time."

"Yes, we do appreciate you though!" said a young girl in the front, one of the lower ranking guards. She was wearing a purple outfit.

"You see, Link," Nabooru began, "We had to do this because you are so different from the rest of the men."

"Yes, you are different." Said a few.

"So we decided to give you a party!" Nabooru said, spreading her arms out. "Come! Enjoy!" The crowd parted even farther as Nabooru turned and Link hesitated, but walked forward with Meghan at his heels. He replaced the sword in its sheath.

They realized they were in a room that was quite long. They followed Nabooru to the end of the room, where it seemed more like a party. There were decorations in purple, white, green, and red and a table of refreshments.

"Wow." Meghan said, impressed. "They threw you a party."

"It is for you as well," a Gerudo Guard said. This must have been one of the Guards they had fought when they freed the carpenters. She had the outfit that they wear on, and two curved blades crossed on her back. (I forgot what the blades are called.)

"So, would you like to stay and party?" Nabooru asked.

Meghan looked at Link, who looked her back with a face that said 'do you want to?' Meghan nodded in reply.

"Sure, we'll stay." Meghan said.

"Wonderful! Let the party begin!" Nabooru said merrily. Suddenly, some music started. Meghan was shocked and looked over to where it was coming from. A bunch of Gerudos wearing vibrant variations of the same outfit were playing some music that was like Latin or something, only it was in Hylian. Two were playing guitars and one had various assortments of drums, a few were playing brass instruments, and one was playing a piano. Then there was one in the front, wearing a white top like Nabooru's, pants like Nabooru's, and her hair tied up high, only she had on all white with a single necklace that had the same green as the rest of the Gerudos' outfits in a huge emerald. The song was oddly familiar...

"Hey, that's the Gerudo Valley song!" Meghan said (By now you should be listening to that song. (See previous text) (Thank you DrippingInk; you showed me that website by writing your WONDERFUL story! It's so cool!))

They were singing words to it in Hylian, and it was hard to understand. The girl singing had a rich, full voice that reminded Meghan of Amy Lee's voice. (Lead singer of Evanescence) But after a verse of Hylian, they switched to English, and then she heard the words perfectly:

_Sands beyond any imagination,_

_Engraving footsteps into the earth._

_Their revelation._

_Stepping on the falling floors,_

_Finding trust became so much more._

_Was the moon already dropping_

_Into another universe?_

_The prayers of so many,_

_Hoping for the better; not the worse._

_Would they ever return themselves_

_Back home?_

_Or were they forever stranded_

_On their own?_

_Were they... all alone?_

_Sands beyond any imagination,_

_That was their very own revelation._

_Running through the clouds,_

_Making each other proud._

_Wasting time,_

_Whistling happy songs on the brine._

_Storm before the sun,_

_And the waking to the one_

_Who brought_

_The pain and the sorrow._

_The bigger hearts of the horror._

_Each heart of horror,_

_Each heart of horror._

_It has to be_

_No one other._

_Why can't you see?_

_You're my brother._

_It's not me,_

_You can leave me._

_Trust me,_

_Forgive me!_

_The sand is swirling,_

_The earth is twirling._

_We will fall off,_

_And fall through space._

_We will fall off,_

_And lose our place._

_If you don't._

_Sands of supreme,_

_You can save me_

_From the wind._

_Sands of supreme,_

_Return me to_

_The place I was born._

_I went into the world,_

_And became a revelation._

_I became that revelation,_

_And with my imagination,_

_Out from that revelation._

_I bloomed._

_And from the bottom of my heart,_

_I will remain apart_

_Of this world._

_The revelation._

_I sleep,_

_The revelation._

_Revelation_

_- Zelda_

_(By DrippingInk)_

"Wow that was a deep song." Meghan said. "Really cool. Imagine, you take a tune and put those wonderful words to it…"

"It was a very nice song." Link agreed. They started another song that was from the same genre of music. It was nice, but not as much as the first one. Nabooru walked over.

"The first song they played was quite popular for a while…but we Gerudos became unpopular and so did it. Shame, really. They're a talented group. The lead singer was once one of our best guards, but she suffered an injury." She paused for a second. "But don't let that fool you. She's just as good as she was before after she healed. She just prefers singing."

"I can see why." Meghan said, transfixed on the song. The girl singing shot a quick glance at her, and then smiled while still singing.

"Well, my friends, I must tend to some party business. I'll be back." She turned.

"Nabooru." Meghan said suddenly.

"Yes?" Nabooru turned back around.

"No more jokes."

"Don't worry, dear. I wasn't planning any." Nabooru said mischievously. She pivoted and walked away.

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know." Link responded. They walked around the party area, where many Gerudo chatted, whispered, pointed, and danced. Gerudo dancing was like gypsy dancing. It fit perfectly with the music.

They made their way over to the refreshments. Available for drinking was some Lon Lon Ranch Milk, juice of some sort, and something in a jug that she couldn't see. A few older Gerudo walked over and poured themselves sparing amounts of it, while younger ones poured large glasses.

"Do you know what's in there?"

"Not sure." Link responded. "But it may be…" but Meghan had already walked over to a less threatening group of Gerudo girls who seemed her age.

"What's in there?" One standing in the front, who seemed to be the leader of them, looked at her friends on both sides of her with an impish smile.

"Only the best drink in the world. It's the Juice of the Desert. Made only here. Would you like some?" her friends suppressed snickers as Meghan nodded.

"It's not…bad for you is it?" Meghan said as the girl poured her a glass. It had a reddish tint, though it was mostly clear. Meghan examined it for a second.

"Go ahead, drink it." A girl to the left of the front girl said. Meghan brought it to her lips, then while watching the girls, took a small sip. It was delicious.

"Oh, yeah, and my name is Narma." The head girl said.

"I'm Shada." The second girl said.

"I'm Tamay," a girl to the right of Narma said.

"And I'm Kiku." The last girl said timidly.

"I think you know who I am."

"Yes, of course! You're Meghan. Where did you get that name? I know it's weird to us because we are the Gerudo race, but it does not even sound Hylian." Shada asked.

"I am not from here."

"Where'd ya come from?" asked Kiku. Narma shot her a glance.

"We should not pressure her to answer such questions. She will when she is ready."

"Oh." Kiku smiled. There was a secret here…

Meghan drank more, as the other girls drank their own. Slowly, Meghan became looser in what she was talking about. Meghan felt all free, like she was flying…

"Hey, Narma." Meghan said slowly, her voice slurred. "Heh, There wouldn't happen to be any ALCOHOL in here, would there?"

"I don't think so…" Narma said. She didn't know what alcohol was. Narma and her companions drank more. It took longer for them to achieve the same effects as Meghan, but eventually they got the same 'free' feeling.

"Hey, Meghan." Tamay said, her voice slurred as well. "You want to come with us for a second?" She asked.

"Sure, where are we going?" Meghan asked slowly.

"Somewhere." She answered mysteriously.

"Good eNOUGH for ME." Meghan answered.

(Hey, listen everybody: When you see capitol letters, obviously that means they are annunciating and accenting more.)

"Meghan where are you…" Link began, feeling forgotten again.

"I'm…going sOMEwhere…see ya, hun." She said as her new posse took her hands and dragged her somewhere. She flapped around all carelessly, and turned her head. "I'll see ya…" She said like she was talking to a little kid, walking in ALMOST straight lines. The Gerudos were better at it.

Narma and Tamay, who had her hands, led her to a back door. They opened it.

"So," she said shortly, making a popping sound with her mouth at the end, "Tamay, my homedog, where IS we Going?" She asked.

"Yoooouu'll see." She said, making the 'you' very long. They were in a hallway, and it was dark except for a few torches lighting it dimly. There were doors every few feet. They stopped in front of a third one on the left. Kiku opened it.

"Hey. Nabooru." Narma said, kicking the door open the rest of the way. "What's up?"

"Oh, you brought her, I see." Meghan looked around the room. It was finely decorated, bright and large, unlike the rest of the place. This was obviously Nabooru's room. "Meghan, would you like to sit?" Meghan nodded her head quickly a lot of times. She pranced over to the chair Nabooru motioned to. She jumped onto the big, overstuffed, red chair.

"Meghan, would you like some more Juice?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Meghan said as Nabooru poured her more juice. The other group of girls were talking and laughing really loud about something.

"Hey Meghan! How bout we give you a makeover?" Shada asked.

"Yeah! It could be really fun!" Narma agreed, nodding to her friend. Meghan thought for a second.

"Sure, I guess…" She said. Tamay and Shada ran over and grabbed her hands, while Kiku and Narma asked Nabooru something.

"Of course, dears." Nabooru said from her spot on a divan. They pulled Meghan a room in the back of the room they were in. It had a deep red curtain that matched the chairs.

"Let's see…" Narma said as she looked through a wardrobe of clothes.

"I only wear BLACK and WHITE." Meghan informed them while drinking more Juice.

"Well, black is no color to be wear in the desert." Shada told her. "So we'll go with white."

"Why am I changing my clothes again?"

"Cause." Tamay informed. Meghan stared into nothing for a second while they picked out her clothes. Then Meghan asked suddenly,

"How old are ya?"

"I'm sixteen." Narma replied.

"Shada and I are fifteen," Tamay said.

"I'm fourteen."

"Hey, I'm fifteen! Hee hee hee heehee…" She started giggling for no reason. She took another sip.

"OK, put that down." Narma said, taking the cup from Meghan. "You need to change into these clothes."

"What?" Meghan asked. She wasn't paying attention.

"You need to change into these clothes." Tamay responded.

"And how do I do that?" She said, taking the clothes from Narma and inspecting them.

"You-…never mind." Narma signaled to Tamay and Shada. "You're her age, help her."

"OK! Ummm…how do I help her?" Tamay asked.

"Simple. TELL HER WHAT TO DO! Then when you are done, come retrieve Kiku and me so we may help as well." Meghan stared after Narma and Kiku as they left. They closed the curtain and left Meghan staring at Shada and Tamay.

"Uhhhh…" Meghan said. She spotted her glass on the vanity. She walked over to get it.

"No. Time to change." Tamay took the cup away again and set it out of her reach…unless…

"OH!" she groaned.

"Put these on. We'll leave if you want."

"Ok…if I can figure out how to get these desert Gerudo clothes on…"

"It's not too hard. Just put the shirt on, and then the pants. Then you're done.

"OK…" Tamay and Shada left. She stared at her clothes in her hands, then…

She tottered over to her cup, threw the clothes on the floor, and drank the rest. She wobbled a bit…

"No more!" She said. She turned the cup upside down and shook it, but, to her dismay, nothing came out. "Darn." She picked the clothes up off the floor, and quickly got changed…sort of. She looked at her self in the mirror, and with some sanity, said aloud.

"Wow. I like these clothes!" (Of course, her judgment was…impaired…) The shirt she was wearing was a white halter top. She had white pants like the rest of them wear, with that fluffy look. "I'm good looking!" At that moment, Tamay and Shada came in.

"Are you done?"

"I think so…" she said, and before she could say anything else, Shada shouted,

"Narma! Kiku! Get over here!"

"We're coming!" Narma shouted back. "One SECOND!" She came in a few seconds later with some cups and a pitcher in her hand. She wasn't walking in crooked lines anymore, and seemed perfectly sober. Kiku too seemed sane.

"What's that?" Meghan asked hopefully, straining to see inside of it.

"Not for now." She responded, putting it on top of the wardrobe. "Now, don't you look DARLING!" She said, changing the subject. "Wonderful! Now, we need to get started on your hair."

"My hair?" she was still confused as to WHY they were doing this, but…she was always confused.

"Yes." Tamay said. "Sit, sit." She said, gesturing to the chair next to her.

"Why are we doing this again?"

"Because. Now, hold still." Shada pulled Meghan's hair out of her ponytail. Narma and Shada came with the scissors, and combs and brushes…

"Suddenly, I think I may regret this." Meghan said as the girls giggled and moved in on her hair. "Oh god!" She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the worst. She closed her eyes as they snipped her hair, brushed it, wet it, tied it etc…

"Hey! I was going to do that Tamay!" Shada's voice sounded.

"No, you had her bangs!"

"I want to do her eye makeup!' Kiku said.

"That's my job." said the eldest of them all.

"Narma, tell HER to do the bangs, and let me do my job!"

"Tamay, do what you said you were going to do. There will be no lying among us. Kiku, you may do the rest of her face, except the eyes, Shada, finish the hair, Tamay do anything else you can think of when you're done doing what you're doing at the moment."

_What are they doing? Why did I except? My poor hair! What it Link doing?_

"Meghan, please close your eyes normally and sit up straight." Narma said. She felt her come close to her face, and then started putting something on her eyes. Kiku did something to her face, while Shada pulled her hair back into a high ponytail.

Before she knew it, they were almost done.

"OK, you may open your eyes." Narma finally said. Meghan reluctantly opened her eyes, and then turned to look at herself in the mirror. She gasped.

"Do you like it?" Narma asked. Meghan stared. Her hair, in a high pony tail, had a black stone on it- no doubt it was stolen. They had trimmed it so it was even, and her bangs were now shorter than the rest of her hair. Some of them were hanging in front of her eyes. Her eyes were lined with black eye liner of sorts, so dark it was mysterious…Her face was covered in makeup of some kind that made her face look flawless like they have in movies, and her nails were perfectly trimmed and shaped…like they had been so long ago. Who was this person?

For a second, she was almost sober. Then Narma took the cups and pitcher down, and she remembered that sweet taste…

"Is that…?"

"No. It is very good, though I assure you." Narma said, pouring some for Meghan. "Here, try it." Meghan took the cup. It was not the light, reddish color of the Juice of the Desert, but a disgusting, gray color.

"Eeww! I'm NOT drinking this!"

"It's very good. Nabooru made it for us."

"Why did Nabooru make it?" Tamay asked. Narma shot her a glance, and she said no more. Meghan smelled it. It smelled like nothing, really. She lifted it to her lips and took a small sip. It tasted horrible! She made a face.

"You lied!" She yelled after swallowing.

"Drink more."

"No way!" But she did. And she became saner with each sip.

"Come on, we need to keep the effects a little while before we get back." Narma said, taking her arm and leading her out. Nabooru wasn't there anymore.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." She said while leading her out of the room. They walked down the dim hall to the room where the party was in. She could hear singing, but it was now a different voice and it was in Hylian. It became clearer and clearer as she got closer…

"So now are you going to tell me?"

"Wait here…" Narma said. Kiku went with her, but Shada and Tamay stayed. A few minutes later Narma returned. "Come." She said, opening the door to the party room.

"Meghan?" She heard a familiar voice.

"Link?" She said, turning from where the voice came from.

"Meghan…?" He said "Uhh…what were you doing? You were gone for a while."

"I…actually have no idea. A group of Gerudo girls, who else, somehow convinced me to go with them."

MEANWHILE…

"They're in place, Nabooru." Narma whispered. Nabooru nodded and glided among the crowd to the band. She whispered something to the current singer, then that singer told the first singer, who was taking a break. She nodded when she heard the news, stood and walked over to her place in front of the band. She turned and informed the band the same something.

Nabooru made her way back to Narma in the corner. "We're ready for your part."

"Good." Narma made a hand signal to Kiku on the other side of the room, who signaled a different one to Shada, who told Tamay, who was standing next to her, to go. Tamay lingered among the crowd, trying not to be noticed.

"Nabooru, we're all set. Release the effects." And Nabooru, using her sage powers, made Meghan completely not intoxicated and completely clear-headed.

MEANWHILE…

Meghan gently awoke to her reality.

"What happened to me?"

"What? Oh, it must be what I thought it was."

"What's that?"

"It's a drink used to lure people to do things…and it is quite addictive, or so I've heard. I've never tried it. Its effects are cancelled out by an opposite juice…I think it's called Juice of the Sea or something. It gets you very intoxicated."

"Oh my gosh…they did that to me!" She exclaimed. But why? These Gerudos could not be trusted, ruled by a sage or not. This was definitely a plot for something…but what? Could they be trusted? "Link, I feel something's not right here."

"So do I. But not much CAN happen, I mean, Nabooru's a sage, right? She wouldn't do anything, or why would she be a sage?"

"But what if it's not Nabooru?" she lowered her voice. "Anybody here could be a follower of you know who…"

"You're right, but I don't think that's a reason to be afraid. We could be overreacting, you know."

"We could…but I don't know…"

"What?"

"I think they're scheming."

"About what?"

"I don't know."

"OK then. Perhaps we are paranoid."

"Meaning I'm paranoid."

"No, both of us."

"I messed up bad, though. Nabooru even warned us…you should never trust a Gerudo."

"What's done is done and we cannot change that. We must focus on this."

"Are you enjoying this? This party, I mean."

"Sort of."

"Maybe we can find a way to leave…and for me to get my normal clothes back."

"That would be rude." In the background, a song started. It was a sweet song, sung in Hylian. The sweet tune was beautiful; it was similar to the Requiem of Spirit. It was a slow song.

MEANWHILE…

"Everything is completely set, Nabooru. We're just waiting on Tamay to do her job…she'll be quite good at it."

"She is the stealthiest of all of you."

"Yes, besides Shada."

"She's still better."

"By a bit…"

MEANWHILE…

Tamay spotted her targets… She stealthily moved through the crowd, in between a Gerudo Guard, and blending with her fellow warriors…

She was a few feet away from them. She started a small conversation with a guard she knew a bit. She was sure they weren't looking…

She casually walked towards them. She waked closer to Meghan, still in between the Gerudos. The next part would be hard. It would have to be perfectly timed. The Hero's eyes would be too fast for her if she went slowly, but if she went to fast, she could miss them.

Their position, though, couldn't be more perfect. The Hero was standing near a wall, and Meghan was facing him talking to him.

Just perfect, she could get them both…together…this way. She looked away from them…Link wouldn't know who she was that well and Meghan wasn't facing her, so it wouldn't really matter, but Link was a careful person and knew that anybody staring at someone for a prolonged period of time spells suspiciousness. Especially in their present state of paranoia.

She lingered just for a second longer, then positioned herself to where she could run perpendicularly to them, and escape in the crowd. She got ready…Meghan changed her position a bit, and it was time.

MEANWHILE…

"That would be rude." Link stopped talking. In the crowd, he saw that girl…she was certainly suspicious. She seemed to linger…maybe it was nothing…_paranoia…_he thought.

"Oh well. We should go have fun, I suppose. No point in wasting time that we have. I guess." She moved a bit. The Gerudo Link was watching moved. He looked back at Meghan.

Tamay ran for it. She struck.

She came and hit Meghan in the back…

Meghan yelped and lurched forward. She was caught by Link, who was in turn knocked against the wall.

"What the heck was that!" Meghan yelled, standing up straight. She looked away from him and said, "Sorry."

"Um…that's OK." He said, standing up from his position against the wall. The girl who had pushed her was no where in sight.

"What was that FOR?" Meghan asked, looking around. "Stupid Gerudos. What were they trying to accomplish?" She was completely embarrassed. "God I'm sorry." She said. As if she wasn't ALREADY embarrassed enough, with the clothes she happen to be wearing, but then they have to go and do this?

_Moan…ack why does this always happen? No! Oh my gosh! They're so cruel!_

The same slow, sweet song was still on. Link stole a glance at Meghan. She seemed very distraught…_poor person. She has enough on her mind…_

Then he got an odd, strange, sick, demented, crazy, lunatic idea.

"Hey Meghan…do you want to dance?"

"What?" Meghan said, not sure if she had heard him right. Although she knew that she did.

"Do you want to dance?" He said. Meghan stared. _Well, that's a first._ Her heart started beating faster.

"Uhh…" She said. _What do I say?...umm…I'm so confused! _"Y-y-y-yeah, ss-s-sure." He took her hand and led her out to the middle of the room. She stared.

_Ummm…what the heck am I supposed to do? I've never like danced with anyone before…_Meghan thought.

_Yeah…why did I do that? Uhhh…what am I supposed to do? I've never danced with anyone before…_He thought.

_Well, here goes nothing._ They thought at the same time.

_OK…let's see…I've seen people dance in movies…how do they do it? Gosh, I've seen multiple ways…what if Hylians dance differently? What style are we supposed to dance in? _She mentally cried and moaned. I'm so confused and people are sure to look at us…

_Uh…right…I'm supposed to…lead…I think…or not…why did I get myself into this mess? _

_Here we go…_Meghan turned to face Link. He faced her and looked into her face.

They both hesitated. Meghan raised her hand…and before she knew what she was doing she was…dancing?

They were both hesitant at first, dancing as far away from each other as their arms would allow. But bit by little, oh so tiny bit, they strayed closer and closer. The song was still playing. The words were all melting away….all Meghan heard were notes in the background…

She was ever growing closer to this boy she had met one day…mentally and now, while dancing, physically.

MEANWHILE…

Nabooru, Tamay, Narma, and Shada watched from the corner of the room. Their plan had succeeded!

"Yes! It worked!" Tamay said.

"Thanks to your…push…" Shada said, giggling.

"It was Nabooru's brains." Tamay said.

"Narma brought the whole plan together."

"Kiku recommended who would be best for each job in the plan."

"We all helped, girls!" Nabooru said, "Group hug!" They all hugged each other. Then, from the corner of her eye, Shada saw Kiku's signal. The song was going to end soon!

"Shada, tell her to inform the singer to not stop the song!" Shada hand signaled it to Kiku, who nodded in understanding. She snuck through the crowd to the singer and whispered the command in her ear while she was still singing. Then the singer hand signaled behind her back what to do.

"Good. Now, let us enjoy!" Nabooru said.

MEANWHILE…

Meghan had forgotten everything. She felt herself gently rocking in Link's arms, but that was the extent of her feelings. She knew nothing…she was just…there.

Unconsciously, she leaned her head against his shoulder. If he even realized, he showed no sign of it.

Back and forth…step step step…the sweet reverie Meghan knew was soothing her tortured, adolescent mind. She wanted nothing else but to stay here.

Slowly, her trance faded, and she gained some reality.

She found herself, and remembered all that was to happen. She realized she had her eyes closed, and she opened them. She lifted her head, and looked to is face. He was looking down at her, with an affectionate smile. A few seconds passed, and the song ended.

Meghan broke away from Link. She walked with him to the corner of the room.

She stared up at him. He looked at her. She had no idea what to say.

Neither did him.

_Well, when in doubt try humor!_

"I wonder what time it is." _OK, that wasn't humor._

"Yeah…" he said quietly.

"I'll go see if I can find Nabooru."

"Why?"

"I want to ask her something."

"OK. I'll be waiting here." She left him slowly and walked through the room. She finally found Nabooru, Kiku, Narma, Shada, and Tamay in another corner of the room.

"Nabooru, do you know what time it is?"

"I just checked a few minutes ago." Kiku said quietly. "It was 16:09, but like I said that was few minutes ago." (For slow people out there that's 4:09. You probably didn't need to know that…)

"Wow, it's later than I expected." Meghan said.

"Did you have fun, though?" Nabooru asked. Meghan froze up.

"Fun? Of course I had fun."

"No, I mean with you know who." Nabooru corrected. Meghan hesitated. _Maybe I can deny it all…but why would I want to?_

"Yeah, sure I had fun." She said quietly. "Well, thanks. Bye." She said as she walked away.

"Wait, Meghan. We have something to tell you." Tamay said.

"Yes." Nabooru said. "Something VERY important. Narma, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure, Nabooru. Meghan, we set you up. Did you like our double blind date?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Meghan said.

"We set you up. EVERYTHING in this party was meant for one purpose. When Nabooru awakened as a sage-"

"You TOLD EVRYBODY?"

"No, only these girls and our singer over there." Nabooru smiled. Meghan was sure she was not going to like this.

"Anyway, when Nabooru awakened as a sage, she realized something. When you were in the Sacred Realm with her."

"And what did she realize?"

"That you and Link had something special…"

"OK! That's enough of story time for me Gee! Time flies, we've got to GO! See ya." Meghan turned.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nabooru said. "We're not finished."

"As I was saying…Nabooru realized this and KNEW that she had to do something about it."  
"So she recruited us to get you guys together." Shada said.

"Which is why it is called a double blind date. Neither of you knew." Tamay informed.

"We threw this party then used the effects of the desert juice to lure you into our…trap…to give you a makeover…and this is what happened!" Shada exclaimed. Meghan was shaking with anger now.

"Why did you do that? YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASSED I AM RIGHT NOW? First you make me all scared because of the dark when we got here, and then you dress me up like some DOLL and make me seem like an IDIOT in front of Link because I was all DRUNK?"

"So you do care?"

"NO! I JUST DON'T WANT TO LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT IN FRONT OF A BOY!" She was going to cry now. They had caused all this embarrassment…

"Perhaps we don't know how to handle it, after all; we have been around only girls all our lives…" Narma looked as though she was thinking. "No, we do know how to handle it." The group of girls snickered. Meghan wanted to run and hide her face from everyone…everyone…

"In case you're making fun of me…people have done that before. I don't care. It doesn't faze me. Good bye." She turned and left. She made her way to somewhere…she had no idea where.

She found a spot away from all the other people on the wall. She sniffed and tried to hold back her tears. She leaned against the wall and slid down it to a sitting position, and hoped no one would notice her. She silently cried. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on her knees. She closed her eyes and cried quietly for a while, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She knew that hand…only one person here had gauntlets as far as she knew.

"Hey, are you OK?" He asked quietly. She lifted her head from her knees. Her tear-stained face was pathetic. She sniffed and almost looked at him, but she instead looked the other way. He sat down next to her. She sniffed again. He took her chin and gently turned her head towards him. She looked down. "No more tears please." He gently wiped her tears away with his finger. "Do you wish to leave?" Meghan nodded. "That can be arranged." He said. "I'll be back."

"No, I want to come with you."

"Alright, I just thought you might want to…"

"No…it's OK. I'll come." Meghan followed him over to the group of Gerudo girls. They looked ashamed, with their heads bowed and hands clasped in front of them.

"Girls, tell her."

"We're sorry." They said in unison. Narma stepped forward and looked up at Meghan.

"If there is anything we can do to make it up to you, please, tell us." She said quietly. Meghan looked at them. She thought.

"Have fun." She said, smiling. "However, we must leave you, sadly. We have business to attend to." She said.

"Of course." Narma said, sneaking a smile. "You two have fun too." Meghan moved closer to Narma.

"I need to retrieve my clothes and get changed back." Then she whispered to Narma. "To what you said earlier, don't get any ideas." She sweetly smiled. "I hope to see you again."

"Let me know when you are finished, I can help you navigate through the desert." Nabooru said. Meghan nodded and walked past them all. She sighed when out of earshot.

"Well, you handled that pretty well." Link commented. Meghan nodded.

"I guess…" she said. "I'll be back…I've got to go get changed into NORMAL clothes." Link smiled. She found the door that led to the back hall. She walked down the hall, trying to remember what room Nabooru's was.

She found it after looking in a few vacant rooms down the hall. She entered cautiously, and then quickly went to the changing room. She hurriedly changed into her other clothes. When she was finished, she carefully folded the clothes and put them on the vanity. She removed the jewel from her ponytail, leaving her own tie in her hair.

She made sure the clothes were folded perfectly, and ran out of the room. She met Link back in the party room. She saw Nabooru and ran over.

"Are you ready to go?" Meghan nodded.

"Thank you, Nabooru."

"Yes, thanks." Link said.

"Any time!" Nabooru said enthusiastically. She led them back outside. Once outside, they followed her through the desert. This time, Meghan walked with Link, and didn't talk much. Nabooru seemed to be thinking…

Finally they could just barely see the Gerudo's Fortress. As they walked closer, they could make out the gate thing separating the fortress from the Haunted Wasteland. They had finally reached a part of the desert where blowing winds didn't almost blind them and fill their mouths with sand.

"Well, here we are. I do believe that I'll head back to the party. Remember, Meghan, and you too Link, if there's anything I can d for you, don't hesitate to ask!" she turned and walked back into the desert.

"Well, that was an interesting experience." Link nodded. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" she asked.

"Hmm…" he said. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?"

"Just come on." He said, gesturing for her to come and starting to walk. They went past the Gerudo's Fortress out to the valley. They walked past the carpenter's tent, to the edge of the cliff.

"You trust me, right?"

"Uhh…yeah but what are planning to do?" she asked, although she thought she knew.

"It's an easy way out of the Valley." He said, looking down into the raging river below.

"No. Nu-uh. I am not going to." She said, taking a step back.

"You said you trusted me. Why not?"

"I'd get wet."

"Oh well." He smiled. She smiled too.

"OK, then." She said, giving in. _Can't be worse than taking a roller coaster, right?_

"So you trust me?" he said, extending his hand to her.

"Always." She said, taking it. She stepped forward, on the edge of the cliff.

"Ready?" he asked, tightening his grip. "Remember, dive, don't jump. That would hurt."

"Ouch." She agreed.

"On the count of three. One…"

"Two," she said.

"THREE!" they both said. She felt him jump from the edge of the cliff. She did too. Although she held on tight to him, she could feel her grip loosening. He turned his jump into a dive, letting go himself. She tried to do the same, and got into as perfect a position as she could. She was right near the water now…

"Oh goddesses…" she said, drawing in a large breath, and then she felt the impact. She went far into the water, a foot or two away from touching the bottom. She opened her eyes and barely saw Link through the mass of bubbles separating them. She swam through the lukewarm water to the surface.

As soon as she got her head out of the water, she drew in a large breath. She looked for Link. She didn't see him, so she turned. He wasn't there either. She turned again. There he was.

"You scared me." He smiled his mischievous smile.

He swam to her, and said, "Come on, this is the fun part." He said, taking her hand.

"What?"

"This." They fell over the edge of the waterfall thingy. Meghan, having had barely even a warning, had not taken a breath. She plunged into the water. Quickly she swam to the surface.

"Hey! She yelled. He snickered. "I just like swallowed a lot of water!" she yelled.

"I guess now would be a good time to warn you that the next one's coming." He smirked. She looked. The next thing was a few feet away.

"_Mister Brilliant Hylian_." She muttered as they fell over the next thing. Soon Meghan and Link were in the Lake Hylia area. Once she swam to a deep part, Meghan took a deep breath and swam as far down as she could. Then she went back up.

"Don't make me do that again." She told Link, who swam over to her.

"Come on. You know you had fun. Admit it."

"…Fine. I had fun. But…"

"Yes?"

"Don't make me…OH WHO AM I KIDDING? Let's do it again!" She took his hand and started swimming.

"No, I think I've had enough for today."

"Please?"

"No."

"PRETTY please?"

"Begging is not pretty."

"Fine." She swam to land. "I'm going by myself."

"No!"

"Bye bye!" She squeezed the water out of her hair, and ran.

"Hey come back here!" He yelled, getting out of the water too.

"Ha ha! You can't catch ME!" she yelled, running fast.

"That's not fair!" _Oh well. She'll slow down once she gets to the gate! Snicker snicker._ He ran fast after her too. Perhaps not fast enough, though.

When she reached the gate, she thought ahead and climbed the ladder. Link was not too far behind her, but she was far enough up that she could get up it without him reaching her. So she ran across it while he climbed. She jumped down from the top, hurting herself and attempting to roll, but obviously that didn't work.

"Ouch." She said as she attempted the perverted roll. She quickly got up as Link jumped down and she ran still. She ran in the direction of the Gerudo Valley.

Dude, he was seriously gaining on her.

She ran faster still, trying to outrun him. She should have known better that that would not work. He swiftly caught up to her, and grabbed her.

"No! I want to dive again!" she yelled while laughing. She tried to pry from his grip Yeah…that didn't work either.

"No way. I don't trust you."

"I change mind too quickly, don't I?"

"Yup."

"I never used to do that." She thought. She used to be so…protective. Now she was free. FREE!

"I wanna go dive again."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That's not a reasonable explanation." She said sophistically. He let her go, knowing she wouldn't.

"I don't want you to because I feel like torturing you." He said.

"Oh really?" She took a step. "You can't stop me." She took a few more steps. "Try to catch me."

"You won't go."

"Don't count your eggs before your cows hatch."

"I know many things but I didn't know that cows hatch from eggs."

"They don't. So ultimately it has two meanings."

"And what would they be?" She put her hand under her chin like she was thinking.

"Hmm…SUCKER!" she ran away. It took a while before Link comprehended this and ran after her.

"Hey!" he ran after her.

"Ha hahaha ha ha!" she tauntingly laughed. "You can't catch me!"

"Yes I can!"

"Not this time!" she picked up her pace. _OK, all I have to do is run fast until, I get there…and then…_

She ran as fast as she could. She was now crossing over into the desert…now going into the valley…

She ran over the bridge thing and ran straight for the edge of the cliff.

She didn't hesitate when she reached the edge. She just kept running, and when she reached it she bounced off the edge like a diving board and jumped.

"No!" He ran and jumped too, also without hesitation.

Meghan turned it into a dive, with her arms above her head. (Or below, if you were in her position)

"Whoo hoo!" she yelled. She impacted with a splash. Before even returning to the surface, she swam as fast as she could. When she reached the waterfall, she dived off that too. How she managed that, we still don't know, but Link was gaining on her.

_Not today…_she thought as she swam as fast as she could, going over the second waterfall and into the lake. _One day I'll be better…_

Despite her lack of breath, she kept swimming. She swam to the part on the right there where the gossip stone is. She ran over the bridge to land and didn't stop. She was tired, but one look behind her told her she couldn't stop. She had to keep running.

Link was just getting out of the water. As she ran, she drained her hair of water.

"I'm… (Breath) going to (Breath) dive (Breath) again!" She yelled back over her shoulder again.

"Oh come on! I'm tired and wet and I know you are too so please stop!" he yelled as he ran, droplets of water spraying from his drenched clothes and hair.

"No! More…diving…" she turned forward and ran. She was slowing down, but then again so was he, so it didn't make a difference. Yet.

As time passed and she covered more ground, her pace slowed. Link, however seemed to be pacing himself and wasn't nearly as tired as she. Meghan kept running, now at a jogging speed and with Link catching up more and more by the second.

Finally, when again nearing the desert, Link caught up to her so much that he could almost reach her. When she realized just how close she was, she tried to push herself more, but her legs cramped, and she was running out of breath. Lactic acid was building up in her legs due to the switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic respiration.

She kept running.

"No…I …want…to…dive…again… (Insert breathing noise repetitively here)" now it seemed that Link was almost NOT catching her on purpose. She seriously slowed. She was crossing the bridge thing into the valley…

She was almost there…

A few more steps…

No don't stop now!

Just as she was reaching the edge of the cliff again…she felt a pair of strong arms clasp around her stomach.

"No! So close!" she said, trying to break free, but not REALLY trying.

"O…K…I…give…up…" she breathed. "You can let go…the lactic acid is building up in my legs…"

"You always confuse me." He said, letting go.

"I paid attention in biology." She said. "There… are two kinds of respiration, aerobic and anaerobic... Aerobic… is where you use oxygen... It goes through three main parts…and makes twenty…four I think, ATPs when it's finished. But if you use… a lot of oxygen when exercising…it goes into…oxygen debt…and you switch to anaerobic respiration…which is…when you don't use oxygen…and it makes a lot less ATPs…(Insert large exhale here)"

"Yes…well…"

"Yeah it confuses me too sometimes. But the best thing to do is to walk it off…"

"Walk what off?"

"Lactic acid. By the way, e equals mc squared." She started walking in circles."

"…" Meghan was still breathing hard. She finally just sat down where she was. "Are you OK?"

"Wonderful. I FEEL REJUVANATED!" She sat in silence until she stopped breathing so hard. "You know what?"

"What?" he said, sitting next to her.

"You're…A SUCKER!" she got up and ALMOST ran off the edge. She was SO close... "Ouch!" She whined, tripping onto the rough, desert floor. She landed on her hands. He tripped her! And without even moving. Good thing she was wearing clothes on her knees, hands and elbows or else she would have scraped herself.

"I knew you'd try something like that. I almost let my guard down, too." She turned over and sat on her butt, kicking his extended foot.

"Idiot." She muttered, getting up. "What's wrong with you?"

He laughed manically. "MWAHAHAHA! BOW DOWN TO MY EVILNESS AND ALL SHALL COWER IN MY LARGE, OVERGROWN ALTER EGO'S SHADOW! Besides, you tried to trip me once, it just failed." Meghan walked over and SMACKED him in his face.

"I've been waiting to do that since I met you." She said angrily, and walked away. Link looked at her walking away. Suddenly he jumped up, pointed at her with a gauntleted hand, and said,

"BOW DOWN! ONE DAY YOU WILL, HUMAN! I AM HYLIAN AND PROUD OF IT!"

"Shut the hell up." She muttered.

Silence

…

…

Oo…

Ooo…

Oooo…

Ooooo…

(Scared you, didn't I?)

(Couldn't resist)

(Occasionally, as you may have seen before with the "attack of the midgets" deleted scene, (Yes I treat this story as if it were a Very, VERY long movie) I get writer's block and write really, REALLY weird things. This is one of them. Just pretend that that was one of those things actors do when they mess up their lines and you see in those behind the scenes things on DVDs. Now cower before Shadow Link's evilness and live in his SHADOW!) (Yeah…)

(What really happened)

(I should really stop doing this…)

"Walk what off?"

"Lactic acid." She walked around a bit, leaving Link confused. Finally, she stopped walking. She sat down. She sighed, dropping. Suddenly she perked up "I had fun today, not including being brainwashed. I had fun diving, remind me to do it again."

"You can do it again now, if you want. I was just joking." He said, sitting next to her.

"No, I'm tired. Do you know what time it is?"

"No…"

"Come on, let's get out of here. I think we had enough time spent in the here today."

"Yeah." They got up.

"_Goodbye, hot temperatures, oasis of life_." Meghan whispered, as they walked away. "_Perhaps one day I shall see you. Again_."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

As they walked out into the field, Link decided not to call Epona. They had time to kill, and it was best spent walking. They walked out to the middle of the field, where Meghan jumped up onto the stone wall thing. She walked across it, as Link perched himself on top of it. She walked all the way to the end, then walked back to where Link was sitting near the end.

"You know, that reminded me of gymnasts back home. They do all these back flips and stuff on thin little balance beams and I have no idea how they do it. I wish I could do back flips."

"You can't?"

"Nope."

"I could teach you."

"I'd be afraid."

"Why? It seems whenever you're afraid you end up having fun."

"Hmm…"

"Where's your sense of adventure. It's really not that hard."

"Sure, you say that. But next thing you know, I either am going to do it until you forbid me to again, example diving, or until I almost kill myself."

"What would be an example of that?" What _was_ an example of that?

FLASHBACK

"_Wait here," He barely whispered. "I'll be right back, just hold on and don't, don't leave me." Meghan looked up with wide** scared **eyes, nodded, still holding her stomach. He went…_

Too bad she didn't remember how scared she had been when she went to fight Ganondorf, or when he had almost killed her…or when she was on the brink of death…

"I don't know, but it would probably happen with my luck."

"Your luck?" he smiled mischievously.

"Um…no never mind! I have good luck!" she remembered. How else would she have gotten here? How lucky was she, she, out of all the humans the gods could have picked…she was picked…how ironic is that?

"So…I'm gonna say the same thing. You trust me, right?"

"I do believe no answer is needed." She said, jumping down. He got off the wall as well.

"You ready?" she nodded eagerly.

"Luck is on my side…"

"OK. The best way to do it is to start off while moving…"

About a half hour later…

"You got it now?" Meghan nodded. She was going to attempt this back hand spring, after much instruction.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes. No."

"What…? Never mind."

Later when they returned to the forest, Meghan was able to do a messed up back hand spring. They had decided that it was easier to start off with that. Back flips were way too hard to try the first time. She could do one with some help, though.

Link walked her in front of Saria's house and Meghan said goodnight to Link. He did the same. She walked into Saria's house partway. When Link had turned around and walked away, she leaned out the doorway and watched him walk away from her.

She sighed. Today was certainly an…interesting day. True, she had fun, but it was...

It was hard to tell what she felt today. The day had started, so eager and full of promise…

"_Come on, Mister Hylian! Time to go places! Do things, see people!"_

"_Oh, right, right." He said tiredly, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "OK."_

Then confusion…

"_Do you even know what I said?"_

"_Do you know what I said?"_

"_I asked you first."_

Then happiness…

"_Miss Meghan," she began, talking into her ear as she hugged her. "How are you?"_

Then fright….

"_I would think you would be wiser, yet you walked all the way here without realizing."_

_"What do you mean?" Meghan said, now scared. Nabooru looked over her shoulder at Meghan, with a wicked smile on her face. She slowly moved her hand up to her face, near her cheek, where she showcased a small blade no larger than her hand. Meghan stepped back. "Wait, that's mine!" Meghan said, as she checked the pocket sheath. It was empty…_

_The sounds now came from all sounds except Link's left side, where he held his sword. There must have been a wall there. Link slowly backed up, and his foot hit the wall. He took Meghan's hands from his arm and led her over to the wall, and put her up against it. She pulled her knife from her sheath. Not that it would help much. She wished she had her sword._

_He then stood in front of her, and readied his sword._

Then embarrassment…

"_All that for nothing?" Meghan murmured to Link. "It was just a bunch of harmless Gerudos!" She quickly let go of Link, then bowed her head in embarrassment. _

Then captivation….

_Sands beyond any imagination,_

_Engraving footsteps into the earth._

_Their revelation._

_Stepping on the falling floors,_

_Finding trust became so much more._

_Was the moon already dropping_

_Into another universe?_

_The prayers of so many,_

_Hoping for the better; not the worse._

_Would they ever return themselves_

_Back home?..._

Then forgetfulness…

_(Meghan gently awoke to her reality.)_

"_What happened to me?"_

Then more confusion…

"_Do you want to dance?" He said. Meghan stared. Well, that's a first. Her heart started beating faster._

Then…the…the…what was this feeling?_ Unlike any I've felt…_

_(Meghan had forgotten everything. She felt herself gently rocking in Link's arms, but that was the extent of her feelings. She knew nothing…she was just…there.)_

Perhaps that was the highlight of the day. She barely remembered how she got to that…how she ever worked up the courage to…even touch him…

Come to think of it, she touched him a lot today…

_What the HECK am I thinking? Wow, my mind is a bit…messed up._

She had experienced so many things today…but this one feeling…rose above all others. A prominent, lingering feeling. One that she really never felt much before. What…

She quickly dismissed it as she walked back inside. _Probably nothing._

MEANWHILE

_Idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot! How could I?_ Today was a…mistake day. It should never have happened like that, she should never have had to go through that…

"Link, what's the matter?" Navi asked in Hylian as Link repeatedly hit his head on the wall of his home.

"Navi how could I have done that to her?" he asked, removing himself from his self tormenting.

"What did you do? You didn't do anything, that's what." She said, fixing his hair like a mother.

"Stop that." He said, waving her away. "I couldn't have made today worse if I tried."

"First of all, you didn't do anything."

"Yes I did." He said, turning and sinking to the floor, leaning against the wall.

"What? Huh? Tell me."

"I could have NOT suggested that we go there, then we would have never have gotten scared because of the brainless Gerudos! They don't understand! Did they even realize how uncomfortable they made her feel?" he could feel his anger rising. But for what reason? Oh, he knew. The Gerudos always cause pain, suffering…darn them! And he never cursed…never before.

"Ok, that was NOT a legitimate answer, because it wasn't your fault? How could you have ever known? You couldn't have, Link. And you know it. This leads me to my second point, IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT! Nothing is ever your fault, Link. You should know that by now."

"Alright. So, let's just pretend it wasn't my fault. THEN WHOSE IS IT?"

"Nabooru's." Link considered this for a moment.

"No. It's mine."

Navi turned a brighter white, her way of smiling. "You just don't want to admit that you're wrong. You know it wasn't your fault."

"I know that is WAS my fault."

"You're so difficult." Navi said, her color fading. "So very difficult."

"Just drop it."

"Whatever." Link sighed.

MEANWHILE…

Meghan didn't want to sleep, it was too early. _Never want to sleep, never want to wake. It like I don't want to sleep, I miss things when I do…but then I dream within my sleep and don't want to wake._

Despite her stubbornness and resistance to sleep, she fell asleep within seconds of sitting down on the bed. She had had a strange, action packed day that made no sense. Sleep came although she was planning to resist it…

And then she had a dream. It was the strangest dream…

They went to this place. But who was they? She knew it was herself…but somebody else…who? The place was like a volcano, with much lava flowing and FIRE! It had an entrance to each of the temples…shadow, spirit, water…wait, but was there fire and forest? Not as far as she saw…

She walked through the shadows…behind things and in the dark…

But then, when she left, they were in the desert. Her mom was there. Wait…mom…? Her mom told her they had to sleep in these large circular boxes that were like jewelry boxes for rings, with the little hole things in the middle for rings. And they actually had rings in them…

But then Meghan's box was so crammed full with jewelry that she could barely fit. And then there was this red-headed fox demon there…who's that? He was pretty cute. And he kept complaining he was lonely, but none of the other boys wanted to hang out with him.

Yes, it was a strange dream.

MEANWHILE…

"I'm sorry, Navi." Link apologized a few minutes later. "You were right, but it's still my fault somewhat."

"That's OK, Linky-winky." She said, giving him a fairy kiss on the forehead.

"Stop doing that." He said, wiping his head.

"OK. I'm going to sleep."

"Good night, Navi."

"Night." Navi flew over to the window, where she slept on a tiny blanket. It was funny when she slept. According to her color, he could tell what she was dreaming of.

He sat on his bed. _Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep…oh great._

He fell asleep. Sword, shield, weapons and all.

That must have been uncomfortable.

**That song, Revelation, is by DrippingInk. GO READ HER STORIES! LINK COMMANDS YOU! OK, so he doesn't command you. BUT I DO AND THE **

**Counterfeit **

**Kokiri sword does too!**

**Oh my gosh I think that was the longest chapter yet. Guess how many pages? OK, I'll tell you. 28. MWAHAHAHA! BOW DOWN TO EVIL HYPERNESS! Sorry.**

**Yes I know this chapter makes no sense. Please bear with me…**

**And that dream that Meghan had…It was an ACTUAL dream I had Saturday night! MWAHAHAHAHA! And the mystery fox demon is a dude named Kurama, but that wasn't relevant to the story so I didn't put it there.**

**To peoples: (Oh my gosh I got the most reviews ever in this story for chap. 15! Thank you guys!)**

**Princess Kathleen: Thank you for being a new reviewer! I know, I know, the stupid cliffies…**

**Meowzi: DON'T DIE! You can't because I updated! The only people who can die is the evil Gerudos! Once again…the cliffies! I know I know! Thanks for being a new reviewer as well!**

**Toonluver: Glad you do! THANKIES!**

**Serenity: I KNOW! Stop yelling at me! (covers ears and hides) Is your need to know fulfilled? Anyway thanks! (Do you mind if I call you Serenity? You know I have such a hard time spelling your name…SORRY!)**

**DrippingInk: Thank you for letting me use your lyrics! Meghan's so happy! I love your new word: enchantingly-awkwardingly. Its awesome! Yes Nabooru, like all other Gerudos, has no brain. I have nothing against them…but I hate them (That was…ironic.)**

**Jade: THANKIES! To review for chapter 14: anything I can do to make it less confusing? I'm sorry if you didn't understand…also thank you for telling me if they roll their eyes. (Do you mind if I call you Jade?)**

**Tizami: Hey there! I'm not cruel, am I? (All the other reviewers (probably) nod) Oh…I'M so SORRY for being cruel:P Well, thank you anyway… TEE HEE!**


	52. DAY THREE: Guess Who?

**Hi Again! And I'm putting the A/N in the beginning of the story today because 1) you'll see why, and 2) It's long.**

**Well, since most of the reviewers for my poem Blood Elegy were from our reviewing posse (That's my way of saying everyone who reviews a story regularly and the author(s)) I'll announce the winners here:**

**Well, this was hard to judge. Very hard. I GUESS I'll just explain:**

**1st prize winners of the contest: _Serenity and Jade_. OK, Serenity you didn't get it right, but I do see where you got Link and so I shall give you ice cream! Plus you're the only one who didn't say Ganon. THANK YOU GODDESSES! And you too, Serenity. Jade got it completely right AND completely wrong, so I couldn't say you were completely right or completely wrong so you're tied. ICE CREAM FOR YOU TWO!**

**2nd place: nobody.**

**3rd place: _Nanio and Nikana Olos_. You guys… (Sighs) Wow. I'm sorry, it's just funny. Why would Ganon want to hold somebody's hand? I didn't see him as that type of person, but hey we're all entitled to or opinion! You didn't lose because I believe poems are only understood by their author (And yes it has a very special meaning to me) and are also interpreted differently by each person. So, you guys get ice cream, but not as much.**

**(Looks in virtual freezer) (Frowns)**

**Whoops, looks like I ran out! Virtual Meghan must have eaten it! Sorry guys, I gotta go shopping. Maybe next time.**

**Uhh…yeah:**

**Serenity: (Cries) No Serenity! I was reading your Ocarina of Time novely thing again, and then I looked at the reviews and saw that Dark Midnight put a review that said: "just a little warning watch out for AnimeDemonNayorin she seems to think Link is her's -twich- HE IS MINE!  
(note: I am not trying to be meen just stating the facts)"**

**Just want you to know that I don't think Link is mine anymore and realize that it is not he that is mine but I that is his. Yeah, please don't hate me! Please forgive me for sounding like that:'(**

**ANYWAY…  
****OK, thanks. I think Serenity is much easier to type! YES IDIOT GERUDOS! As for no more cliffies…(Points) MWAHAHAHA! THANKS FOR THE REVIEW! (oh, yeah I meant to ask: How do you pronounce the other half of your name?) (HYPERNESS ROCKS! BOW DOWN TO EVIL HYPERNESS!)**

**Tizami: THANKIES! You really think it goes?... Hmm…**

**Jade: yes it is 100 percentshorter! I think… (Counts on toes) let's just say it the simple way…it's half the length! Anyway…THANKIES! HUMOR IS YIPEE but it doesn't match, notice the genre…WHO CARES? (Angst…humor…what's the difference? I say there is none.)**

**Meowzi: OH, thank you! Now, repeat after me: MEGHAN/NAYORIN CANNOT MATCH STORIES WITH ROWLING. OK? OK? Ok, we're good. THANKIES!**

**Princess Kathleen: Hmm… (Considers advice) OH YES I WILL DO SO! THEY SHALL BE STUCK IN A- (Meghan covers her mouth) (Both grin sheepishly) oops, don't want to give it away…THANK THANK YOU! (Spelling: Hilarious thought you might want to know. :))**

**Yes, I think my author's note is longer than the chapter…ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

**Day Three**

Meghan's strange dream continued. This time, she dreamed of all the sages. They were all on the floor…but where was Zelda?

MEANWHILE…

_What…I fell asleep? NO! I fell asleep! Gotta get up before…she does…_

Link got up. He removed a few weapons. He took out his bow, bombs, bombchus, arrows, Lens of Truth, and every other weaponhe had except for his sword and shield and looked for place to put them.

"Ah," he said, putting them under his bed. "There we go."

He walked out, hoping Meghan wasn't awake yet. He walked the short distance to Saria's house.

Carefully, he peeked through a window. _Sleeping. Perfect._

"Navi, do you know what time it is?"

"No…I'll go look. Hold on."

"Thank you. I don't want to wake her up too early." Navi 'smiled'. "Don't be thinking anything."

"I'm not…tee hee."

"Navi!"

"But I'm not!" she flew over to the entrance to the Lost Woods, where a gossip stone was located. She flew back a few seconds later. "It's 9:33."

Link walked in the house. She was lying face down.

Link walked up to her.

"Meghan…Meghan, wake up, Meghan." He poked her. Then he shook her. "Meghan, please get up." She lay still. "Meghan, please get up." She lay still, still. "Meghan?" he asked. "Meghan…" he said. "What's…what's the matter?" _Is she breathing? _"OK, you can stop that now, Meghan." Silence. "Yes, I know you want to play a good trick like Nabooru's, but it's not working." Meghan still didn't respond. He became scared. He kneeled down on the floor next to her. He shook her again. When she STILL didn't do anything, he rolled her over, and she fell into his arms. "_Meg…ghan_?" he whispered. She didn't seem to be breathing. "No! Oh, no…what…what…" he didn't know what to do. What was wrong with her? "Meghan?" he put his hand over her heart…was it beating? _No, what am I thinking! Of course it is!_

Suddenly she stirred.

"Meghan, don't do that again!" she didn't answer him. She removed herself from his arms, staying eerily silent. He stood. Her head stayed down, her eyes closed. She walked towards him…

"Meghan what are you doing?" he asked. She didn't respond, but stopped walking.

Then, after a few seconds of silence, she said, "You thought you could get rid of me."

"Get…rid of…you?" he asked, confused. She suddenly lifted her head, flashing her eyes at him.

"You thought I was gone, you thought you could lock me away in the Sacred Realm, kid." She took a step toward him.

"Meghan, what are you doing?" he asked, scared.

_No…_he said, realizing, _No…_

"FOOL!" she yelled. "DO YOU NOT REALIZE?" but he did. She pulled her knife out of its sheath.

"Meghan, please, put that down."

"I am not that idiot little girl!"

"You can't be…"

"Can't be who?" she said, laughing. "Is it truly impossible? In order to come back, I needed a body I could come back in. Since I am still in the Sacred Realm."

"You…let her go." He said, glaring. "If you want somebody…take me…Ganondorf."

"You're smarter than I thought. But you're still a fool. I couldn't take a body of a Triforce holder."

"Why would you not take somebody else? Like a sage's?"

"I had to take somebody who didn't have magical abilities to try and block me. This girl was perfect. It has so many advantages. I can torture you, while taking over Hyrule…She's the most suited for the job. She's one ofthe strongest in Hyrule who has no magical abilities.

"So stop trying to avoid it. The only way to get rid of me…

…is to kill her."

* * *

Mwahaha, cliffie again!  
Right now I'd like to quote my other story: Don't make a fool of yourself. Remember that.  
Next chappie's almost finished...should be out by Friday. (I hope) Or sooner. BYE! 


	53. DAY THREE: PART TWO: The Garden of the G...

**YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, YOU ALL MADE FOOLS OF YOURSELVES! Well, can't say I didn't warn you! And yes, I would have done the same thing. So I can't complain too much, or make fun of you…DARN!

* * *

**

**Read on to find out why:

* * *

**

Link gasped.

Meghan started laughing manically.

* * *

"You are so easy to fool." She said. "And now you are rendered helpless. What will you do?"

* * *

But as Link looked on in disgust for Ganondorf, she started snorting. 

"I so got you! Ha ha! That was so funny!" She fell to her knees, laughing. Link seemed…distant. "Hello, it was a joke." She said. "You don't catch on to things easily, do you?" she walked over to him.

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist. Tightly.

"Don't EVER do that again." He said. At first she thought maybe that this was HIS joke, but she realized he was serious. "Never."

"I'm sorry. But you have to admit, it was funny."

"It was not funny!" he said, squeezing her wrist. His hand was shaking. His gauntlet dug deep into her wrist. She didn't think he was hurting her purposely…maybe it was just because he was scared. He wanted to know she was really there. "Forced to face a decision like that…I don't know what I would do."

"OK. I'm really sorry."

"Are you sure you're you?" he said, still not letting go.

"Yes I'm sure," she said, looking down at her hand. "Link…"

"Yes?"

"You're hurting me." she said seriously. This time, he really was. He looked down, as if he didn't realize he was. He quickly let go. She rubbed it.

"I'm so sorry." He said. Meghan's eyes watered, realizing what she just did. _Man that was stupid. _"I'm really sorry."

"No, I'm sorry! How could I have done that?" she asked.

"Shh…it's OK." He pulled her into a hug, as she cried onto his shoulder.

"I tried not to remember it. But just now I did. I remember that I might have to go…"

"Nobody is going anywhere."

"Remember the promises you once made to me?"

"No, what were they?" she pulled away.

"Silly. You seriously don't remember?"

_"Please, I don't know what you're saying…I don't want to be here…bring me back home…"_

_"I…don't know how…I'm sorry…but we'll find out how. I promise."_

_…_

_"Alright. But, if you lose, then our business is with her! She decided to come, she has to play!"_

"_I won't fail." He whispered. "I promised." _

…

"You made two promises that I remember. One, you promised you wouldn't fail." In reality, he actually promised he wouldn't get hurt, but Meghan tweaked it. He didn't remember anyway. "If you were ever faced with such a decision, don't fail Hyrule. And two, you promised that one day you would bring me back home. Thank you for keeping that promise."

"I…kept that one?"

"I do believe that this is home. Now…"

"But I hurt you."

"So?"

"I don't think I've ever hurt you."

"Sometimes life hurts. It means nothing." She said, gesturing towards her stomach. "I've gotten hurt before. But here I am. Good as new. Maybe better."

"Yes, perhaps. But I could still…never…"

"We'll worry about that if it ever comes."

"Now we must make a promise to each other."

"What is that?"

"We won't fail each other." Meghan looked into his eyes…

"I…promise."

"And I promise as well. Good." They both smiled.

"Well! Aren't you mad at me? Then I have an idea!"

"Where do you come up with these things?" he asked. Just a second ago they had been talking about something else.

"Let's have a friendly duel!"

"A…duel…doesn't somebody usually die in a duel?"

"Not in a friendly one." She ran over and got her sword.

"Now how do you expect me to fight you?"

"I don't know…FIGHTING TIME!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. "Hurry hurry hurry!" she cried, pulling him out of the forest.

"What? Where are we going?"

"In the field…"

"Why again?"

"You're clueless most of the time…you do know that, right?" she stopped.

"No…actually…"

"COME ON!" she pulled him and ran out to a flat part of the field.

"It just occurred to me that you were suddenly dressed this morning."

"You pay attention to the weirdest things."

"Just my observant nature I suppose."

"Yes, well what I did was not on impulse. Don't you just want to beat me up for it? OK! You stand here…" she back up. "And I stand here."

"Please, again, why?"

"Because this will be fun. Besides, when was the last time we fought?"

" Never."

"Exactly! What better time to start?"

"Never."

"GOOD! Are you ready?" she drew her sword and bowed to him. He just stared at her, with no weapons in his hand. "Come on; take it out…" he didn't do anything. "OK, your funeral." She rushed at him, trying to stab him. He just moved to the side.

"Umm…OK, you win." He said.

"NO! I want a real fight, please? Don't hold back! I can take it! I can do it!" she started jumping up and down. "Come on, don't you want to beat me up?"

"I really don't want to…" she put her sword at his neck.

"Unsheathe your sword."

"I really don't want to…"

"PLEASE?" she said, removing her sword.

"Uh…fine." He unsheathed his own sword.

"Are you ready yet?"

"I suppose…"

"Come on!" She slashed at him. He parried, pushing her sword away. But she had become stronger since their first training session. She slashed him again, this time vertically. He stopped it by pushing it to the side.

"Considering the choice of weaponry, you're not doing badly." He said as she tried to hit him. "We need to get you a better sword."

"What would I ever do with it?" she said, trying to hit him again. He blocked it, this time she tried to hold it there, swords locked in an 'x' position.

"I don't know." He said as he pushed on her sword. She held it, quivering a bit. "Maybe fight?"

"I don't know if I could use anything much bigger than this." She said, pushing with all her strength. "I'm probably too weak."

"Do you want to switch weapons?"

"No way! I couldn't even hold that sword, most likely."

"Too bad I don't have the Master Sword anymore."

"Yeah…" Their swords slid down each other's. Meghan jumped back to avoid being cut by his weapon as it crashed downward. She turned in a circle, switched the sword to just one hand, and attacked Link from the side.

"That was a nice move." He complimented, blocking it.

"How come I'm the only one who's attacking?" There was no answer. "Hey, I told you not to hold back!"

"I can't, Meghan. One time when I hit you, you started to leak." He knew how much that annoyed her. Even though now he knew well what blood was, he said that because for some reason she was protective of her blood.

"HEY! It's not leaking." He grinned. "You did that purposely."

"Yes."

"I'll get you for that!" She rushed forward, taking him by surprise. She hit him on the gauntlet.

"Wow. That was good." He said.

"I…I hit you? I ACTUALLY hit you? The Hero of Time? I HIT the Hero of Time?"

"Yup."

"I…HIT you?"

"Yes, you did."

"Aha. I HIT YOU! And you DIDN'T hit ME? WOW! OH MY GODDESSES! I HIT you! YAY!" She celebrated as Link whole-heartedly congratulated her…

They did not know they had a spectator.

An old man, dressed in a brown robe, had watched their whole battle. A wise, firm old man who never really 'fooled around' in life anymore. He watched as they partied, he watched the girl. The human, that girl who helped the Hero. She had grown, in strength and character since she came here.

Now as he watched them, fighting as friends, they seemed so childish. But the worst was over. He could relax again. When tensions had been high, in the times of the evil king, he had reason to be so serious. But now…maybe now he could relax.

The Hero of Time had defeated the evil, along with the princess. And not to be forgotten, the human had helped perhaps some as well.

He was the sage, Rauru.

As Meghan and Link continued their battle, Link actually tried to hit Meghan. Not hard, though. Meghan blocked most of the blows. A few she back hand sprung to get out of the way. That was fun. But it was Link who was the first to notice who was watching them. Just as Meghan was about to strike, he lowered his sword and put his hand up. She almost hit it, but stopped. She turned around and saw him walking towards them. The sage, dressed in simple clothing, walked towards them.

"_It's Rauru_." She whispered to Link. He nodded. "_What's he doing here?_" Link shrugged a little shrug.

"_We'll find out._" He walked to Rauru, who was walking towards them. "Hello…"

"Hello, Hero. Hello, Meghan." _Finally! They didn't call me human!_ The elderly man smiled an old man smile. They smiled back, to be polite.

"Hi!" she started, hyper, but then said "Hello, Sage."

"Now, there's no need to do that. I may be an old man, but I know how to have fun!"

"_This old dude can have fun?_" Meghan whispered barely to Link.

"And, to show you that I can, how about you come with me?" Link didn't seem convinced.

"Sorry, but he had a little run in with an unexpected joke this morning. Forgive me. Are you really Rauru?" Meghan asked.

"Of course!" He said, seeming taken aback. "I am Rauru."

"Of course. How could we have ever doubted you?" She said with a smile.

"That's all right. Please, come this way. We must go the Temple of Time."

"Why must we go there?" Link asked.

"We shall have a tea party." Meghan and Link stopped and looked at each other.

"_You can't be serious…" _Meghan whispered

"_I think he is."_ Link responded. Rauru didn't realize that they had stopped, and they quickly caught up to him. They walked across the field to Hyrule Castle Town, which was being rebuilt, as Rauru had told them.

"Princess Zelda and the sages removed all traces of evil from the area. It is now safe, once again."

"Are they rebuilding the castle as well?"

"Yes. You shall see when we get there." Within a few minutes, they had reached the entrance to the town. They walked over the now fixed bridge. Into the town.

There were the carpenters, the whole company of them except for one who seemed to be missing... Their boss was standing in the middle of the town, yelling orders. The whole town looked like new, though it wasn't finished.

"Wow…" Link said, walking into the town. "It's like…it's like it was when I was…a kid. Sort of."

"It's so awesome!" Meghan interjected.

"And the castle…is even better." Rauru said. "Come, see!" Meghan and Link followed him. They walked across the small town to the castle on the other end.

When they entered, they gasped. The castle was just as it was seven years ago.

"How did they build it so fast?"

"With a little magic, of course!" A girl's voice said. They turned…they knew that voice!

"Zelda!" Meghan said, running towards her. Zelda was wearing a light blue dress, a slightly different variation of her famed pink dress. Her hair was pulled into a bun, with two pieces hanging down.

"How are you, Meghan?" she said, giving her a kiss on both cheeks.

"I'm great!" Zelda walked up to Link, and gave him a kiss as well.

"How are you, Link?" she asked. Link blushed.

"I'm fine. How are you? Princess?" he said, bowing jokingly. She giggled.

"Oh stop that! Please, don't! Well, busy, but that's what you would expect." She sighed. "We've been building this place for days nonstop, since…I visited you."

"Oh. So…the carpenters…can use magic?"

"No, silly! I have been, though. Not much though. They won't let me."

"Well, your castle is beautiful, Zeld." Meghan said.

"Thank you! And as soon as the interior is finished, you have to come and visit everyday!"

"Somebody's very happy." Meghan observed.

"Well, it's really just stress." Zelda said, looking down. "But this is my way of handling it."

"Zelda, please don't be stressed. You'll do fine." Link reassured, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I do hope. I don't want to be hated by my people."

"Never say that!" Meghan said.

"Yes, Zelda. You are destined to rule us. You will do perfect."

"Yup."

"Thank you, my friends." Zelda said. "I'm so glad you could come by. I'm terribly sorry, I must leave before that carpenter hurts himself. Hey, be careful!" she said, walking to him. She turned and said, "Bye! Really sorry! Terribly, terribly, it's just…Ichiro! Don't hurt yourself, please! I'll see you…really…"

"It's OK, Zelda. Don't stress out about it." Meghan said.

"We will see you soon."

"Bye! WATCH OUT! Oh, goddesses." She put her hand to her head, then ran to help poor Ichiro who dropped a stone on his foot.

"Shall we go?" Rauru asked.

"Oh…yeah…" She said, whining so only Link could hear. _Rauru! We don't want to! _Meghan thought.

"Come on, let's not be rude." Link muttered to her.

"She is certainly busy. She has to be a sage…a princess…and everything else."

"She is wonderful at it, though. And at such a young age. She is just right for the job." Rauru said. He led them to the Temple of Time.

"_I'm really going to_…" but Link silenced her with a look as Rauru continued to talk. She had no idea what he was saying. But he was old. So perhaps she would give him a break.

"Be ready, friends, I am going to bring us to the Sacred Realm."

"Why are we going to the Sacred Realm?" Meghan asked.

"I just about live there. We can have tea!" He said, all happy-like. Yes, Meghan was freaked out. She just hoped Hylian tea tasted like tea from earth. And she hoped they had sugar. LOTS of sugar. LOTS AND LOTS OF SUGAR!

As they walked in the Temple, Meghan saw the…the pedestal…

In less than four days, he would have to put it back…

Put it back there…

She breathed deeply and tried to forget it. Today she would not cry again. She already did. Rauru brought them to the Sacred Realm.

The place they got transported into was beautiful. It was a garden, with a table in the middle. Flowers bloomed every where, vines hung from the arbor above the table. Behind it was a path lined with more colorful flowers in full bloom. It led to a gazebo type thing. Inside the gazebo, vines with vibrant colored flowers hung from its top. To the right of the gazebo, there was a small stream. It ran under the path, where there was a small bridge, to the other side of the garden. There, it ran up a waterfall. Yes, you read correctly, I said UP the waterfall. It kept going, right into the sky as far as Meghan could see.

"The Garden of the Goddesses' Wish." Link said. "I've heard Kokiri legends of this place. I never knew it actually existed. It's rumored that that waterfall runs right up into the small one in the Kokiri forest."

"That is true."

"Wow, this Sacred Realm is sure strange. No offense," she added quickly. "It's beautiful."

"Would you like some tea?" Rauru asked suddenly. Meghan nodded. Perhaps she would not regret this, after all. "I shall fetch it." He disappeared behind a wall covered in more vines. Just sorta phased through it.

"So, do you know about this place?" Meghan asked Link, walking out across the path, and over the bridge. She looked at the waterfall, seeing how high it went.

"Well, it's also said that the goddesses came here and made a wish for Hyrule's war to be over. But they knew they couldn't stop it, it was a mortal's struggle. So they wished that the inhabitants of Hyrule would end their war soon on their own."

"Is that the same war…from when you were a baby?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps…perhaps that has something to do with why your mother went to the Kokiri forest, if this really leads to it." She said, walking to the waterfall. It was very thin; the water flowed in an almost perfectly straight line. She put her hand above it, and felt the water rush upward at her hand.

"Maybe." He said, picking a flower. He walked up behind her. "It was a very good assumption." He said, giving the flower to her. She took it delicately.

"Oh, it's beautiful! What a pretty flower!" The flower was like a rose, but it didn't have thorns and was smaller.

"Maybe my mother was guided to the forest by the goddesses."

"So the goddesses really were here?"

"I believe so. But you should not be surprised; did you not see the goddesses once?"

"I…did in my dream. But that was really nothing. It was just a dream."

"Dreams are not always just dreams. Sometimes they come true. A lot of times they come true." He walked back over to where they first came in. "I think Rauru is returning."

"How do you know these things?"

"I can feel…"

"Must be a Hylian thing."

"No, really. It's not too hard. Come here." She tottered over to him. "Listen." She listened for a while.

"I don't-"

"Shh." She listened. She listened. And she listened. And (My famous line) she waited.

"Here he comes."

"I'm telling you, it must be the ears. I have annoyingly short ears." She felt so left out. And she didn't want to think about the Gerudos. Not after yesterday.

Rauru, sure enough, returned a few seconds later with a tray of tea and SUGAR! Also, there was an array of Hylian pastries

"Wow this is an odd experience! I like sugar though." Rauru must have heard her. He chuckled.

"Well, there's plenty. So drink up." Meghan, Link and Rauru walked to the table and sat down. They pleasantly conversed, until a bit later they reached a dead spot in their conversation. With nothing left to say, they sat and quietly drank tea. Link seemed to have trouble swallowing it. He obviously didn't like it too much. After a minute of silence, Rauru asked, "So how have you been enjoying your visits from the sages?"

"Visits?" Link asked.

"Yes, you saw a sage yesterday, did you not?"

"Yeah…" Meghan said.

"And one the day before…"

"Oh! You're right! I didn't realize that until now."

"It was a good plan on Princess Zelda's part."

"A plan?"

"Yes a plan…but you…did you not know? Oh! Foolish me! I just recalled…it was a secret…I do believe you were supposed to figure it out by yourself."

"_Rauru…had a senior moment…more like senile._" Meghan whispered to Link, almost laughing.

"_Se…nile?"_

"_Never mind."_

"Ah, well. It's not that big a deal. But, speaking of sages, Nabooru and some others seem to think that Link is in some sort of relationship…" at this point, Meghan choked on the bit of pastry she had just tried to ingest. She gave the universal sign for choking. (You know what I mean, right? It's universal!) She started coughing. Obviously, Hyrule isn't part of the "universe".

"Meghan, are you OK?" she didn't respond but kept crossing and putting her hands crossed over her neck. "What's the matter?"

"(Insert choking noises)"

"What's the matter?" Rauru asked. She thought. _Seriously, Hylians don't choke? They must be the all time most perfect beings!_ Well, since no one here knew the Heimlich maneuver, she attempted to do it on herself. (I had biology class today (I think I'm in love with biology (less than Link)) an if this next part seems strange, don't laugh at Me or Meghan because (A/N) this is what you're supposed to do if you're choking and no one's around. Or, in this case if no one has any idea what the heck you're doing.) (OK, never mind I tried writing it and it made me feel so stupid) (A/N you're supposed to use a chair to push our diaphragm up and force air out) (It would make Meghan seem so stupid. I'll do it the unintelligent way, but you must know this actually happened she would have done the real way.)

Meghan put her hands together and placed them under her ribs. She pulled them in and up, causing her diaphragm to make her chest cavity smaller, therefore pushing the pastry out. It took a while, and Meghan was feeling so light headed by the time it actually came out, that when it did, she sat on the floor, panting for breath.

"Meghan, what happened? What just came out of your mouth?" Knowing that he was a bit…cautious…do to this morning's events, Meghan tried to explain as best she could while not completely stabbing him for letting her choke like that. Not that she would ever had an alibi to do so, since let's see…how many times had he saved her behind? Too many to even think about counting.

"OK. It's called choking. When food gets stuck in your trachea, that's your wind pipe where you breathe, due to the epiglottis not closing in time, or not completely closing," Yes, she resorted to big scientific words to confuse him, "you can't breathe and then you choke, because the food can't go down, and it's too stuck to go back off. So your first reaction is coughing, and then if you can't get it out you will pass out within a short amount of time. What came out of my mouth was the piece of what I just ate. Needed to come out somewhere." Rauru and Link both looked at her, sitting on the floor.

"Well! What an intelligent girl you are!" Rauru said.

"If you knew about where I come from, you would know this too. Common. Sense. Really. You can't breathe, you pass out. Simple."

"Yes, well…" Link said, walking over to her, and extending his hand to help her up. She took it and he pulled her up mostly. "Next time try explaining in Hylian terms." He said, so Rauru didn't feel too stupid. Even though he understood it a bit, Rauru didn't. Link had certain…knowledge of things from her constant explanations. He still had no idea what an epiglottis was or a trachea…but he dealt with it.

_I swear, he is the most _intelligent_ dumb blond I have ever met. Ever. And Rauru is the most senile sage I've ever met. Well, he's the only senile sage I've ever met, but he's still the most senile. _

"So, as I was saying," Rauru said after moments of silence and Meghan had returned to her chair. "The girls, mostly…"

"Have you any idea what the time is?" she inquired, noticing that Link was reddening. She would have been too. But, you know, she can't.

"No, I…hmm…"

"What was that?"

"I shall see. There is a gossip stone behind there. I just remembered. I shall be right back…" he got up and slowly walked over to where it was. Once he was out of earshot, Meghan told Link,

"Yup. Definitely senile. I think he's remembering things that never happened."

"Meghan…perhaps…maybe they think something."

"NO WAY!" she yelled. Rauru turned. Meghan smiled. "We're good!"

"I didn't ask how you were…"

"It's an expression." Link said. "Please, pay no attention to us, Sage Rauru."

"Young people." He said to himself as he continued, huffing his way to the stone.

Meghan giggled. "What's so funny?"

"He is. He's strangely odd. Then again, I must be so strange too, so…"

"You're not strange, just a different species."

"Yes, I know. I am a HUMAN. There are so many species in Hyrule, yet I'm the only one here…"

"Don't be lonely. You have lots of unique people here to keep you company."

"Meaning…yourself."

"Well…no!"

"That was strange." She said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. "I guess we're all strange and individual."

"Yes." Rauru was returning.

"Man he's slow."

"We should not be saying this in the Goddesses' Garden." He said, smirking.

"Yes, you're right." She sat back up as Rauru approached them. "Thank you ever so much, Rauru. So the time is…?"

"It is 13:00."

"Already?"

"Yes."

"I guess we were having fun! Time sure flies. _I wish it didn't._" she whispered the last sentence.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"No…do we LINK?" She said, trying to make him say something to excuse them. He didn't catch on.

"No, I don't think so. Unless you have something to do, Meghan. Or you, Sage Rauru."

"No, I do not."

"Are you SURE?"

"I'm positive…unless for some reason I'm forgetting…"

"Maybe you are? Think REALLY hard." He seemed to realize what she was thinking. However, he did not want to be so rude to Rauru. Leaving a party with an evil abundance of Gerudos was one thing, leaving a private tea party with the oldest sage was another.

"No, MEGHAN, we do not." He said, looking at her with an expression that clearly said "drop it".

"Well splendid! Would anybody like more tea?"

"Uhh…no thank you?" Meghan said, adding sugar to the cup she had that had been filled for the fifth time already. Unwillingly. She poured half of it on the flowers when Rauru wasn't looking. Link gave her another look, and then tried to choke down his umpteenth cup. He didn't get much down.

"_Add more sugar!_" Meghan suggested. She took the sugar and added half thebowl of it to his tea. She smiled at the tea. "Drinky drinky!" he looked disgusted.

"You ruined my tea!"

"You ruined my tea!"

"I didn't ruin your tea!"

"I DIDN'T RUIN YOUR TEA!"

"Stop that!"

"Stop that!"

"Please?"

"Please?"

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

"Meghan, don't do that!"

"Meghan, don't do that!" Why they were acting like children in front of the wisest (Besides Zelda) sage, they never figured out. But he seemed to be annoyed at their childish behavior.

"Please, desist." Rauru said.

"Huh?" Meghan said, suddenly she was standing and acting like a complete lunatic, even though she had not looked at the moon for a while. (A/N did you know that that's where the word lunatic came from? I think it had something to do with people looking at the moon and it affected their behavior, or so was once believed.)

"Calm it down." Link said, leaning away from her. She was quite humiliated…

She sat back down. "Just…too much sugar." She said. She noticed that Link was staring at his now destroyed tea. "Wanna switch?"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, why not?"

"No reason…here." He slid his cup and switched spots with hers. She stared down into the cup…eeewww; she was NOT going to drink that now. Nor was he. It was even more destroyed than when there was half a bowl of sugar in it. Given different conditions, Meghan would have drunk the whole thing in a second. But…

"Yup, definitely destroyed."

"Yes." He switched them back. Meghan took the sugar and dumped most of it in hers. She drank the whole thing.

"MMMMMMM! Nummy nummy sugar!"

"This is bizarre." Rauru said to himself, watching the teens do strange things. "I never knew that the Hero of Time was so…absolutely unusual. It must be…the girl…"

"Eat it!" Meghan said, forcing the pastry in her hand towards him. He put up his hand and blocked it from getting smushed on his face, then observed Rauru observing them.

"Uhh…whoops." Meghan said, also becoming conscious that Rauru was watching. She put the squished pastry down and sat straight in her chair. "Sorry." Rauru chuckled. _Ah, adolescents. They don't need to be here any longer. They need to be free._"Well, soon I must meet with the sages." helied."You are welcome to stay here, but I will leave you a way to leave when you are done. Are you finished with your tea?"

"Um, yeah."

"I shall take them with me."

"Do you need help cleaning up?" Link asked.

"No, no. You just stay here."

"Are you certain?"

"Of course. Now, let me take that."

"Thank you." Meghan said, putting her cup on the tray thing. They cleaned up the table, then Rauru said,

"Well, I must leave now." He put down the tray. "Here is the portal," he stretched out his hands and some yellow lights came out of it. "Just step through this wall when you are done. Goodbye my friends. Let the goddesses guide you." He turned himself into the orb of light that sages use to travel, and left.

"Why do things always happen strangely when people need to leave? I feel like every time we're done doing something I say 'that was strange'." He shrugged.

FLASHBACK

"_Well, that was an interesting experience."_

"_That was wrong…"_

"Or maybe I'm just the one who's strange. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know, do you want to go?"

"It's sorta purdy here…" she said, taking the flower he gave her and skipping down the path.

"Well, I don't thank the goddesses would come here if it weren't."

"So they were ACTUALLY here?"

"You keep asking that question."

"Yes, it's just hard to believe."

"What's so hard to believe about it?"

"I dunno…" She said, skipping over the small bridge, and farther down the path into the gazebo thingy. She sat down, positioning herself so that she could see out of it. It had large spaces between the beams holding it up. It was closed on the bottom up to where the benches, which ran around its circumference, except in the four openings. The benches had soft, gold colored cushions on them. Each of the four openings led to a different path, one to the stream which turned into a small, clear pond on the opposite side of the waterfall. One to the back, where the gardens extended and now she could see the gossip stone, with its one eye staring at her. The third led to the side of the stream where the waterfall was, and the last of course led back to the table.

He followed her to the thing. He went in, and found a spot to sit next to her. She sat back, not looking at him. She just stared forward, smiling. After a while, she started giggling.

"What's so funny?" he asked, grinning.

"The sky…" she said, looking into the roof.

"That's not the sky, in case you were thinking that."

"Yes, I do believe that is the sky. I am an idiot. Duh!"

"No, never say that. You said that once and I told you not to say that."

FLASHBACK

"_Hurt me? No, I'm sorry. I lied…it didn't really hurt. I'm so sorry. What an idiot I am!" she said, feeling the embarrassment of being caught in her own lie._

_"No, please," He said, putting his hands up. "Don't call yourself an idiot, because you know perfectly well you're not."_

"How come you can remember what I said weeks ago, but you can't remember a promise you made to me?"

"Uhh…"

"Or is it just because you DID remember, and was just pretending to be stupid? Because I do that sometimes. I pretend not to know, just…because…I'll like, I don't know, feel innocent or something. Or maybe it was because you DID know, you just wanted ME to feel 'special'?" She finally looked at him.

"Uh…none of the above…" He said. "I seriously didn't remember."

"Do you mind if I say something?"

"Sure…"

"You promise you won't get angry?"

"Well…"

"OK, then I won't tell you."

"No, tell me."

"You have to promise."

"Again?" he said jokingly.

"Hey, no more jokes. I would have thought you'd be the one saying that."

"OK. I promise."

"Ok…" she hesitated for a second. "Don't be angry, but…" she stopped for a few seconds.

"Did you break something of mine?"

"NO! OK, I'll tell you. You're…you're…I think…I…I…thinkyou'rethemostintelligentdumbblondever!" he looked at her for a second.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"I SAID, you are the most INTELLIGENT DUMB blond I have EVER met."

"What does that mean? I'm intelligent, but dumb."

"Yeah, well where I come from, people call blond people…never mind." She said, remembering that he just told her not to call herself stupid.

"No, I want to know what rumors about us blonds go about on Earth." He turned towards her.

"Nothing! Hey, isn't this place pretty?" she changed the subject.

"Yeah…I guess…"

"You guess?"

"Not nearly as pretty as some people." He said, taking the flower from where it was, still clasped in her hand. He pushed her hair behind her ear and put the flower there. She opened her mouth, as if to say something while watching him, but then closed it and smiled. Finally, she said,

"Thank you." She looked down at her lap. _Dumb blond. He's so sweet…_

"For?"

"Everything…everything…" He studied her face, her eyes averted. She had her hands clasped together in her lap. Suddenly she looked up.

"I wonder what the date is."

"The date?"

"Yeah…I mean, in my terms. Like…I think it's April." She thought for a second. She started counting on her fingers. "Lessee…that day was…March 28th, I think, and then…there were a few weeks in between." She looked upward, counting… "Today is April…24th. Hey my birthday is…" she stopped for a second. "The day after…" she didn't finish the sentence. But he knew what she was talking about.

"How old will you be turning?" he asked, trying to make her forget.

"Uh…" _Wait, right now I'm supposed to smack him. Remember…_

FLASHBACK thing…

_"Haha, old man!"_

_"I'm not old!"_

_"OLD GEEZER!"_

_"If I'm so old, then how old are you?" SMACK! Link puts his hand to his cheek._

_"**NEVER** ASK A GIRL HER AGE! (Or her weight…)"_

_Heh heh, I'll pass._

"Umm…sixteen." She said quietly.

"Really. How old?"

"Sixteen." She said again, trying not to smile.

"Are you sure? Try again."

"SIXTEEN." She said, smiling now but trying not to laugh.

"What was that?" She looked up and playfully hit him on the arm.

"TWELVE, HAPPY?"

"No. You hit me again! That's not nice." He said, rubbing his arm.

"Sor-ry." She said, all attitude-like.

"That's OK…I think I'll survive. But I don't know."

"Oh come on, wimp. I hit you twice today."

"That's not nice."

"You asked for it."

"Actually you started it both times."

"OK." They chatted pleasantly for the remainder of the hour. Then, around two o'clock, they decided to leave.

They exited through the portal left by Rauru. They returned in the Temple of Time, right next to the Pedestal. When Meghan saw it, she took in a sharp breath, then quickly said,

"Come on; please let's get out of here. I don't like it." She walked quickly out past where the Door of Time was and past the Stones. He followed her.

Once outside, they could see the town being built. Even more progress had been made. Shiro and Ichiro were working in the town now, but the Chief, Sabooru and Jiro were not around, or at least anywhere they could see. They might have been working on the castle…

"Link! Meghan! Hi again!" They heard Zelda's voice.

"Hi!" Meghan said, waving to her.

"Did you have fun with Rauru?" she asked, grinning.

"Uh…if you call drinking tea fun, then yes. We had much fun!" Zelda giggled.

"Oh, wow. He did it again. You know, he seems to think that drinking tea and eating is all the rage for adolescents…poor guy." She said, looking toward the ground. "On a lighter note," she looked up. "Meghan, Link, the town is almost finished! Most of the houses are finished, and all that's left to be done is gardening. I'm so excited, this is turning out great!" But Meghan, not wanting to ruin Zelda's fun, was thinking, _what will happen if we all go back and this never happened or something? I wonder if it will make a difference, will the future still have happened? Or will it never be, and they have to start all over from the beginning? _

"Link, if you'll let me," Link looked at Zelda suddenly, "I'd like to steal Meghan for the afternoon." Meghan looked at her too. _She was going to go with a princess? WHAT THE HECK? _

"Sure…why not?"

"Zelda, what…"

"Oh, you'll see!"

"_But what…what about Link_?" she whispered to her.

"I have something I need to do, anyway. It's fine, really."

"Oh wonderful!" Zelda said. "I promise, you won't be sorry!" she grabbed Meghan's hand and led her towards the castle.

"Um, I'll see you later!" Meghan called.

"Good bye Link! I shall see you!"

"Uh, bye…" he watched them go, and then walked out to the field. "There's definitely something I've got to do." He walked towards Lon Lon Ranch.

MEANWHILE…

"Meghan, you must come see!"

"What is it Zeld?"

"Oh, well…you'll have to wait and see!"

"That really made no sense." Zelda smiled a radiant smile. It was so infectious, Meghan had to smile too.

"Exactly." Meghan giggled. They walked past guards, then past Sabooru and Jiro, who were walking the opposite way. Zelda waved to them. They blushed. Soon they were within the gates of the castle. Walking past even more guards, Meghan recognized the basic layout of the area. Although the grass was just beginning to grow, and the landscape was a bit different, it seemed so much like it was seven years ago. The molten lava pit was not there any longer, nor was the tower that once housed a great evil.

They walked up the path to the castle, where the drawbridge was down. Zelda walked over it, guards bowing to her as she did.

"Please, don't," she said, walking to one and straightening him. "I don't want you to, please."

"Yes Your Highness."

"And none of this 'your highness' business. Please, call me Zelda."

"Yes, Princess Zelda."

"Oh, we'll have to work on that. Come along Meghan."

"Zelda, it is our duty to check every person who comes along here." Said a guard in front of them. He seemed to be a high ranking guard, due to the cape that flowed off his armor.

"You will not check Meghan, if that is what you are thinking." Zelda rolled her eyes.

"You should not just let any girl into your castle, Princess Zelda."

"Tell me, General Shina, if I saw you walking in with a person who you seemed to know, would I go and stop you?"

"Princess, I am merely saying that we should do a small background check…"

"General. Please. Do you so question my judgment? Do I seem that naïve? Please, General, step aside. I WILL speak to you later, and I WILL NOT see you say this again. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Besides, since when are YOU so protective? She is but a simple girl."

"But she is armed."

"This is very rash behavior. I will not say anymore. Come, Meghan. Ah, yes, and may I add that this girl helped beat Ganondorf?"

"THIS girl?"

"Yes, General. Excuse us." Zelda stepped past him, and with a glare from him, Meghan did too.

"Uh…I don't mean to cause trouble, Zelda. I-"

"Please think nothing of it. It seems the only one who ever makes me angry anymore is that general. But that was completely uncalled for! whay would he do such a thing? I was merely walking...yet he seems to find excuses to stop me everywhere I go! I wish to replace him. Impa would do nicely…but she is more of… a sage…or that new spy…" She sighed dreamily, "Yes, yes he would do very nicely. I really do wish to replace him."

"Is he really that bad?" Meghan didn't see Zelda as the type of person who normally complained about anything.

"Yes, what you just saw him do is something he does often. You see, he was in charge when my father ruled, and was quite loyal. But I think he may have…been in allegiance with Ganondorf. I'm not sure, but he seems to hate that this land shall be a matriarchy. I really don't mean to cause any trouble…"

"Zelda, don't think that you are because you are not."

"I suppose…" She suddenly perked up. "But we cannot despair! I have something I must show you! She walked into a garden in the front of the castle. "The interior is mostly complete! You must see this!" She walked quickly across the garden, with Meghan following her.

They entered the castle, which was empty. After turning some hallways, Zelda got to one hallway which seemed specially decorated, unlike some parts of the castle which were not finished.

"You see, we had to finish this part first, because some people need a place to live!"

"Like yourself?"

"Yes, of course. And some guards, but they live in the guard's pavilion in the back of the castle." She continued walking down the hall. "This is where I sleep," she said, nodding towards the end of the hall, at a large double-door, engraved with symbols and of course, the Triforce. There was another hallway off the side of this one. "And this…" she said, gesturing towards a door that had the same basic structure of her door, but a bit less majestic. She opened one of the doors, and revealed a sitting room. It had two doors on two of the walls.

It had a small couch, a few chairs, and other things you would find ina sitting room.

"Meghan, I would like to ask you something."

"What is it Zelda?"

"Would you like to stay here, at the castle?"

"Zelda!" she said suddenly.

"I know, I know. It does seem a bit…odd, but you need your own home, and Saria may one day need hers back. But she's a doll, she never complains. The sages, they practically live in the Sacred Realm."

"Zelda, I don't know if I could. I mean, thank you, but…at a castle? I'm really not fit for such a thing."

"Of course you are! And I'd love to have you here! Meghan, really, not to take advantage of you, I promise."

"I…" and then she thought…about Link…how would he react? "Zelda, thank you…thank you so much…I just…" but then she realized that she couldn't stay in Saria's house, especially with an offer like this. What would Saria think?

"I have not told anybody except for you, yet. I just told the designers to make this room special."

"Zelda…thank you." She didn't want to hurt Zelda…but what in the world was she supposed to do?

"It's not completely finished yet, so you still have a few days. And you can take as long as you want to decide."

What was she supposed to do?

What, what, what?

"But there is more. Please, do come with me." She walked out of the room. Meghan looked at the room for a second, then followed her. She followed her down some hallways, some finished and some not, until they got to a door. Zelda opened it slowly. Inside were a few ladies, sewing and chatting.

"Princess!" an older lady said, standing up.

"Forgive me for coming in so suddenly, ladies, but here is the girl."

"Oh! This is her! It is an honor to meet you, Meghan!" a second lady said, putting her sewing down.

"Zelda, what have been telling people?"

"That you helped defeat Ganondorf!"

"But Zelda! You know that I did practically nothing! I just almost died as I left it to Link!"

"None of that matters! What counts is you did help and that in itself deserves recognition." Said a lady. _Man Hylians are thick!_ _Why can't they just see the truth that I didn't do anything…except almost die!_

"Yeah, but…" she faded away. They wouldn't listen anyway.

"Meghan, I brought you here so you could get new clothes. It's been a while."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She said, not arguing.

"I presume that you would like some pants…and some shirts…and you need at least one skirt…" she thought. "Yes. What color clothing would you like?" she was about to say black, but what Zelda say to that? Maybe it was time for change. Maybe…maybe change could be good.

"I like red and white. And blue is nice, and I suppose yellow is a pretty color…" _Wow, that was unexpected._ Right now she really didn't care what color she wore…except _pink_. She shuddered at the thought of wearing pink. Ugh. It looked so nice on Zelda, but not Meghan. Definitely NOT Meghan.

"Alright, I shall arrange that. Wonderful!" Zelda said. "Ladies, please measure her!" _Oh god not again!_ Having had to endure the Gerudos (Although she was barely conscious of it at the time) dress her up, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to pay any attention to her like this…

The group of girls, mostly middle-aged and tired looking, came over to her, pulled her to the middle of the room and pulled out measuring devices, measuring every square inch of her scarred body. She put her hands over her stomach, where her mostly healed wound was, but her hands were pushed away as a lady measured her stomach. She told the measurements to a girl writing them all down. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious. _Oh god, make them stop…_she thought as they measured every single part of her body…yes you girls out there I said EVERYTHING. You know what I mean.

Finally when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, they backed away and put their measuring tape things away. Meghan's face must have seemed funny to Zelda, because she laughed and said,

"Come along, Meghan. There is more I wish for you to see!" _I thought Zelda was like the wisest person in Hyrule. Why is she so blind to some things then? I sure hope Link doesn't have to face such things…_

MEANWHILE… (How convenient)

After closing the deal with Malon, Link decided that this would be perfect. Except…

Would she still be here?

Goddesses, he hoped so.

MEANWHILE…

Zelda led Meghan back to her room. When Zelda opened the large, picturesque door, Meghan saw the room inside was built for a queen. The area was large, and like the one Zelda offered to her it had a large sitting room when you first walked in. The room was a brilliant golden color, very likely meant to match the Triforce. Red satin couches and chairs were arranged in the middle, and near the back was a sort of desk. Zelda walked to the desk and took out a golden key. "Come this way." She said.

She led Meghan to a door. At first it was dark, but Zelda lit a torch on the wall with a suppressed form of Din's Fire. She led her down a hallway to a door, and used the key to open it.

Inside she found some sort of shrine, dedicated to the goddesses. A Triforce was engraved in the wall, glowing. Despite the fact that it was dark in the hallway, this place was light, most likely due to the Triforce and its glowing, golden light.

The Triforce was on the back wall of the virtually empty room. The only things in it were simple golden statues, most likely of the goddesses. Although the décor was limited, the room had a special simplistic beauty to it.

Zelda walked to the back of the room, where the Triforce was. As she walked closer, it seemed to glow even more.

Finally, when she was right next to it, she put the back of her left hand on it. The wall started rumbling, and slowly it opened, revealing some sort of chamber.

Inside, there was a small box on a podium sort of thing. The box was gold and blue, reminding Meghan of the Master Sword's sheath. Zelda opened the box slowly and took out its contents.

"Meghan, I want to give this back to Link."

"What is it?" Meghan said, straining to see. Zelda removed her hand from on top of it.

"The Ocarina of Time."

**DUN DUN DUN! Mwahaha…OK so it's not REALLY a cliffie. I had to put this part of the chapter on by itself because it would be really long if I put the whole chapter on…plus it would take longer and I couldn't WAIT to see the look on your faces when you saw what happened! I feel so evil, Link must hate me…**

**People:**

**Serenity: NO! He is an independent being. He belongs to no one. However, he owns me and my heart! MWAHAHAHA! Uh…ahem…yeah. Thanks for the review, and the pronunciation. Mostly the review! And the pronunciation.**

**Tizami: Yeah, sure you can borrow it! Mwahaha, just to let you know it's what Farore says to Mido…yes it is very strange, boy in girl's body… (Shudders as well) VERY wrong…at least it never happened! THANK YOU!**

**Atchika: MY OH MY! You came back! Or at least reviewed… Even though I'm evil. THANK YOU! Yeah…**

**Princess Kathleen: Yes, the poor tortured souls. Oh well. It's over now! THANK YOU! And yes, had it gotten that far, the sages and Zelda most likely would have gotten Ganon out…but it didn't. Or maybe he wouldn't have come out…considering it's angst…these things don't normally happen that easily! In real life, though, yeah. YEAH! THANKS AGAIN! **

**Thanks for any future reviews…yeah…!**

**We should all be VERY glad that Link didn't chop her head off before she revealed who she REALLY was. (Or maybe some people would be happy?) That would not have been good…or…oh goddesses, lots of sick, violent, wrong images are going through my head…  
Link would never do them!**

**Uh…yeah…**

**Oh yeah, now I remember what I was going to say: YOU guys have to tell me if Meghan should stay at the castle or not, because I really can't decide...I'm having so much trouble! On my own story too...that's sad.**


	54. DAY THREE: PART THREE: Unicorn Fountain

"Oh." Meghan said, for a lack of a better thing to say.

"You're probably wondering why."

"I guess."

"Well," She started, looking to the floor, and then to Meghan, "I think that he really deserves it. I really have not much need for it. The only reason I took it back…was so I could return him to his rightful time. But know that you're here, I don't think that I need to. Link still needs to put the Master Sword back, so Ganon doesn't escape, but I don't think that…he really needs to go back in time. The only thing is, I really have no control over that. If he does, well I don't know, but…I think he should at least take it while we are here."

"Wow. We're so unsure of everything. It's like we're helpless to whatever happens."

"Yes, a lot of things are uncertain in these times. But," she extended her hand to Meghan. "can you give it to him for me?"

"Yes, but why me?"

"Although it may not seem like it, every time I see Link it hurts me deeply." She pulled the ocarina back towards herself. "It's like we're brother and sister, I can't stand to see him hurt, emotionally, physically, or anything. And when I see him, it reminds me that maybe we won't remember, or maybe I won't remember, or he won't. I just can't. Please, you must do this for me."

"OK, I will." Meghan took it from Zelda, remembering what it was like. She had held it sometimes, and through the battle with Ganondorf, but today it felt different. Like it was holding Zelda's sadness. But it still confused Meghan why, if she worried about Link so much, Zelda would not take joy in seeing Link. Maybe there was something deeper than just their friendship. Or maybe she was imagining things?

Meghan carefully put the ocarina in her backpack, and zipped it closed carefully.

"Thank you so much. Even if it's only for a little while."

"Zelda, what do you think will truly happen when Link puts it back in?"

"Well, I can't be certain. And I want you to realize anything I say could happen, or may not happen. I don't want you to get your hopes up, or down, when I say this.

"Most likely, since the Master Sword is the passage through time for Link, he will return to his child form. He may or may not remember these events, but most likely will. It is you, however, that I am unsure of. Because you were not here, you may return to your old world. Or you may remain here, and just be younger. But there is so much possibility of what may happen, depending which way you look like it. I do not believe that you will return to your old world, because it was through the gods that you got here. They would have to bring you back, and I doubt that replacing the Master Sword would have enough power to.  
"But, since you were not here seven years ago, it would be strange if you became a child. So…really where you will go is a mystery. And I'm so sorry if it seems harsh…but sometimes where life takes us is. And you do realize that we have to put the sword back, right?"

"Of course. I don't care. I mean, I don't really…it doesn't effect me. Well it does…but…I realize that it is important." Zelda nodded in understanding.

"For that I am glad. I would not want to put you through this if you didn't know why we had to. I'm sorry." She looked at the floor. "But for now, we must forget it. Enjoy what we are certain of for now. Oh, I'm sure Link is waiting by now. Let us go." Zelda stepped past Meghan. She walked to the door. After a few seconds, Meghan followed her. Zelda locked the door and returned to her room. With Meghan still following, they left the room and turned some halls. Finally, they got to an exit. They walked in silence side by side until they reached the outside of the castle. They walked into the town a little bit.

"Now Meghan, I must return to the castle. There are so many things I need to do, I can't really help it. I will see you again very soon. Will you be OK if I leave you here? I am sorry."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Good bye, Meghan." Zelda gave her a quick hug and turned. Meghan turned and walked the rest of the way out of the town.

Once in the field, Meghan looked around. She hoped Link wasn't there, for once in a very LONG time she wanted to be alone. And she hoped Link didn't have Epona with him. OK, so she didn't want to be completely alone, but at the moment Epona seemed to be a good choice of company…

She took the Ocarina of Time from her backpack. Being very careful, she played Epona's song. She was relieved to see that Epona was by herself. She trotted over to her, snorting as she came to a stop.

"Hello, do you mind if I ride you?" Epona gave a small sound. "Was that a yes or a no?" Epona made a larger noise of the same kind. "OK, I'll take that as a yes." She made her way to the side of Epona, and used the stirrups to hoist herself atop the mare. "Epona, can you…go some where?" she asked hesitantly, not knowing if Epona would understand. But with a shrill whinny, Epona took off. She went to the part of the field where the empty forest was.

In the game, this was just a spot that you couldn't go in, but it looked like woods from the outside. However, Epona went right into it, down a path that seemed to have been made by her hooves, and only hers. Meghan had to duck out of the way of branches a few times, but managed to get through with just a cut on her forehead.

Epona kept going until they reached a cave. Meghan got off, thinking that Epona might be afraid of going in it and was going to go in by herself. But she was surprised that when she got off, Epona went forward again into the cave. She kept going into the darkness.

"Epona, come back!" Meghan yelled after her, and followed. Just before she entered, though, she realized that this cave wasn't very long. Where did Epona go, then?

Meghan ran through the almost total darkness, following the sound of Epona's foot steps. She heard her slowing, so she did too.

Meghan saw light before her, and soon the cave opened up. She saw Epona drinking from a fountain. But this was no ordinary fountain.

It looked like a Great Fairy fountain, but the torches with the colored flames were not there. What made it unique, though, was the three statues of unicorn heads facing different directions in the middle of the fountain. Epona lifted her head, lips dripping, from the sparkly water and nickered a hello to Meghan.

"Hi silly, I just saw you. What is this place?" she walked to Epona and rubbed her neck. Epona tossed her head towards the stone unicorn heads. "Heads?" Epona tossed her head side to side then towards the heads again. "Unicorns?" Epona made a small noise. "What do they have to do with anything?" Epona walked back over to the fountain and began to drink again. "You're confusing me again. I need Link to translate."

Epona continued to lap up the water. Then she stopped. Meghan walked over to the fountain and sat on the top step leading to the fountain. She looked into the clear, crisp, clean water sparkling in the lights. She put her hand in the water. It was cool, and looked good enough to drink. She cupped some in her hand smelled it. Smelled like water. What did she expect? Epona came over, seeing something in her hand and nudged it. The water spilled on Meghan's lap.

"Epona! You silly horse. Oh, well." She brushed herself off and stood. "This place is cool. Does anybody else know about it?" Epona tossed her head. "Are you sure?" Epona didn't do anything. "Come on," Epona just looked at her, standing slightly to her side. "Can we keep it a secret?" Epona brought her head up and down and turned in a circle.

"You must be the smartest horse ever. So it's a secret?" Epona made her little noise again. "Good. Do you like to be rubbed?" Without waiting for an answer, Meghan moved her fingers to Epona's neck and moved them around in little circles, something called T-touch. _Many horses love it, so why not a Hylian one?_ Epona's lip twitched and soon she rested her head on Meghan's shoulders. Meghan told her of her problems softly.

"Zelda wants me to stay at the castle. But I don't know what to do. I can't, but I can't turn her down, and I can't continue living at Saria's house when I've had this offer. And also, I don't want to be so far from Link. Every morning I would have to go all the way across the field just to see him. And that in itself takes a while. Just think…I couldn't wake him up…but then what happens if I have to go back? Then it wouldn't really matter. I would only be in the castle for like one day. Maybe I'll tell Zelda to wait until after…you know. But then what if I turn into a kid? That'd be really strange. Would I remember? Would anybody remember? Hey, Maybe everybody would remember." Epona's eyes closed. "Oh, you're not listening." Epona gave a snort of protest while still leaning on Meghan. "You're so cute." She whispered, still moving her fingers in circles over Epona's neck. "What am I ever gonna do?" Epona removed herself and looked at Meghan.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Epona stepped backwards. "What?" Epona moved herself parallel to Meghan. Meghan stared for a second. "What are you doing?" Epona sidestepped into Meghan. "Hey!" Meghan stepped back. Epona did it again. "You confuse me." she looked for a few more seconds. "Do…you want me to ride you?" Epona stepped towards her again. "I'll take that as a yes." She pulled herself into the saddle, and as soon as she was on, Epona took off back out through the cave. Meghan had to duck down to avoid hitting her head. Once they were outside, Epona kept going through the woods the way they had come. It must have been much later, the sun was almost down.

"Now what were you telling me?" Epona went faster. Meghan grabbed the reins tightly. "Epona!" She kept going. Before long, she realized what she was trying to do. Well, maybe. She saw Link over the hill. "Epona, do you want me to tell him?" she whispered into the mare's ear. She slowed down, getting closer to Link. "Really?" She stopped. Link walked over. "OK…HI!"

"You've been with Zelda this whole time?"

"I don't even get a HI?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, HI. Where have you been?"

"With Zelda." Meghan lied.

"You could have just answered that in the first place." Meghan gave him an odd look.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Why?"

"You seem irritable."

"Just worried."

"About what?"

"Nothing."

"If you tell me what you're worried about, I'll tell you what I'm worried about." Silence. "Link…"

"What?" he asked suddenly, as though he wasn't paying attention.

"God, never mind." The sun was completely down now, and just a bit of light lit the field up ever so slightly. "Are you awake?"

"I think so."

"What is up?"

"I don't know. Nothing."

"Wow. Do you realize the sun went down?" There was bit of silence. Link walked to Epona and rubbed her.

"So what did Zelda tell you?" he asked. Meghan knew something was wrong.

"Uh," she said "Nothing really. I just…well…Link, what's the matter?"

"Nothing. Why do you keep asking?" he said, not looking up from where he was rubbing Epona.

"You don't seem to be paying attention to anything."

"I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Things I think about." He said. They couldn't tell each other what was on their minds… "But. Really, go on."

"It's dark outside. Shouldn't we be going back?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you gonna sleep tonight again?" He finally looked at her.

"Why do you ask such strange questions?"

"Why are you acting so weird?"

"Why am I acting weird?"

"Why do I ask strange questions? It's the same answer for both, I suppose. This conversation is really going nowhere."

"Yes, I suppose."

"Come on." She said, taking Epona and leading her towards the Kokiri Forest. _Should I tell him? No, he's too worried thinking about something else._

_What am I going to do…? _He thought. _Her birthday is the day after I have to return the Master Sword. _He continued thinking this way…until…

"Here, Epona. Return to the ranch." Meghan told the horse. _It just occurred to me that Epona seems to like Meghan today. Not that she didn't before, just more._

Meghan also whispered in the horse's ear "_Remember, don't tell a soul._" Epona whinnied, and then ran off. They walked into the forest. Link walked Meghan to Saria's house.

"Good night." He said, waiting for her to go inside.

"Uh, Link, can you come in for a second? I have to give you something, but I don't want to do it out in the open."

"Nobody is here. It's OK, you can give whatever it is to me here."

"No, please it's REALLY important."

"OK, I guess." He followed Meghan inside Saria's house. Saria never cared if he came in. Meghan took off her backpack and opened it.

"Zelda…Zelda wanted me to give you this." She took the Ocarina of Time out gently and put it in Link's hands.

"Oh, no. Why would she do that?"

"She said that you deserve it."

"But I can't have this, really, it's too important! I have to give it back. I'll do it first thing tomorrow."

"No! I mean, Zelda seemed really sincere; she really, REALLY wanted you to have it. Just take it, please. It would make Zelda happy. Please." Link looked at her for a while, and thought about what he should do. He looked at the familiar instrument in his hands, the one he used throughout his adventure. He did want to keep it, but knew it was better off with Zelda. Still, Meghan wouldn't tell him to keep it if Zelda hadn't really seemed serious about him keeping it. So he decided that he would, at least for now.

"Alright, I think."

"Good. And one more thing I need to tell you. I…" she was going to ask him about staying in the castle. But what would his answer be? Most likely something like "do whatever you want, it's your decision" or something else that wouldn't help her much. Especially when he was so distracted.She stood with her mouth open, then closed it, quickly thinking about something to say.

"I'm sorry about this morning." She said quickly.

"…Just promise not to do that again..."

"OK. No more."

"Never fail me."

"OK. You must too."

"Yes. I won't either." He squeezed the ocarina in his hand. After a few seconds, he said "Good night."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Just as he was about to leave, Meghan stepped over to him and gave him a big hug. He hugged her back. "Bye."

"Bye." He left. Meghan got ready to sleep. Today was an embarrassing sort of day. She realized how embarrassed she was doing what she did this morning. What had ever possessed her to do such a thing? (A/N -Ironically. She pretended to be possessed and thenwonders what possessed her to pretend to be possessed.)

MEANWHILE

Link stared at the Ocarina in his hands. Why had Zelda given it to him? There must have been a deeper reason than just he deserved it. After much more staring and thinking, he put the ocarina on the table. He sat back on his bed, picking up the book once again. He began to read. He had only a few more chapters left.

MEANWHILE

Meghan fell asleep. She had a dream about a unicorn. And Epona. She was riding a unicorn? What?

MEANWHILE

Epona trotted over to the ranch. Epona was lonely. She wished she could go with Link into the forest, but he had once said that she was too big, and the kids in there would not know how to handle her. She wanted to find Malon, but Malon was probably inside, almost. She gave a big horsey sigh and made her way in the ranch. She was surprised that Malon was still out, just walking back to her house.

"Epona! Oh there you are! I was just about to go inside! Come on!" she took Epona's reins and led her to the stables. She led her in, and removed the saddle and bridle. She brushed her for while longer, then finally said goodnight. She left Epona's stall door open. She knew she wouldn't go anywhere.

Epona yawned and lay down. She wasn't lonely anymore. She loved Malon, especially when she groomed her.

Yup, this was the life.

* * *

**So…do you like it? Hmm…  
I know I made Epona's intelligence a bit supernatural, but that was the whole point. I was trying to show that Hylian horses are very intelligent.**

**OK, there were a few questions that many people asked, so I'm gonna answer them here instead of individually:**

**1 ) What was Link doing at the ranch/with Malon: Well, I can't tell you!**

**2 ) Why does Zelda want Link to have the ocarina: I think I answered that…MWAHAHAHAHA! No seriously, I did. Link is just 'paranoid'.**

**3 ) Why does Zelda want Meghan to stay at the castle: Well…I have no clue! You'll just have to ask Zelda…but it's really not that hard…wait didn't I answer that question in the story? My brain hurts.**

**OK, Now:**

**Serenity: THANK YOU! Yes Rauru is silly. And senile. (Questions answered above) Uh, THANKS AGAIN!**

**Meowzi: Thanks for giving your opinion. It will help in future parts of the story. I'll answer all your questions in order: yes, see above number 1, see above number 1, OH THAT'S SICK! (Nervous laughter) hey, don't rush me! NO REALLY, LIKE YOU SAID I'M NOT SAYING YOU'RE SICK BUT THAT'S SICK! But don't worry. I have some parts of this story written in my head. You'll see. BUT THAT'S JUST GROSS! (Giggle) **

**DrippingInk: OH MY GODDESSES! Thank you ever so much! Wow, I love your review... thank you! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

**Tizami: Yeah, I can't keep one either. Notice she WAS laughing through some parts of it. Just evil laughter. Like this: MWAHAHAHAHA! You fell for my joke! Only she didn't say that. Thank you for your opinion on staying/leaving. Tell those brothers of yours that TVs are for watching and listening, not just listening. Or…you know what, just ignore me. THANK YOU!**

**Princess Kathleen: If only, if only. Now, if you would just finish the sentence…seriously, what were you going to say? I really have no clue. Unless I'm planning to do the chicken dance, unless I'm planning to eat tofu, really, WHAT? (Tee hee) But thanks for the review anyway!**

**EmeraldDestiny: Hey, new reviewer! Thank you! LOTS AND LOTS! Tee hee!**

**OK, that's done…I think…**

**Now I REALLY need you to tell me something! What do Gorons do for fun? I really need to know…  
****This is not what you think I'm asking! No…just ignore your brain and tell me…or else I can't write more! Don't think I'm telling anything about future chapters…I'm not!**


	55. DAY FOUR: Decisions, Decisions,and Tears

**Day Four**

Forgetting the dream she just had, Meghan woke slowly. She didn't want to get up. But if she didn't, she knew Link would come to wake her. And it was so fun to wake him up. Maybe today he wouldn't be thinking as much as he was last night and would actually respond to something…

After a few minutes of lying down, Meghan got up and changed. She put her jeans on, with a black shirt and the white gloves. She also put the sword on. No way was she going to be caught without this again.

When she was done she skipped out the door. She made her way to Link's house, wondering what time it was. _Ah, well, who cares? He's not supposed to sleep, if that's what he's doing._

She scrambled up the ladder onto the balcony. She carefully tiptoed inside the house. Link was sleeping, leaning against the wall in the back of his bed, a book upside down in his lap. It was really strange…

It was one of the few times…well maybe the only time…she had ever seen him without his sword. She had even seen him sleeping with it! Wow, that was strange. The sword was next to the bed, leaning against the wall. The shield was face down on the floor. She tiptoed over to the bed.

Suddenly, she jumped up on the bed and started jumping up and down, being careful not to step on him.

"GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP!" she chanted. He woke up abruptly and his hand reached near his shoulder to the sword that wasn't there. As soon as he saw it was her, he leaned his head against the wall again and closed his eyes, breathing out as though annoyed. She continued to jump up and down, his head bouncing with her movements.

"You can stop now." She giggled and jumped one more time, this time falling onto her butt in a cross-legged sitting position.

"YAY! You're up finally. I was jumping for like ten minutes." She really hadn't, though. (Obviously)

"Whatever."

"So what are we going to do today?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do."

"I dunno, what do YOU wanna do?"

"I don't know." They sat in silence for a second.

"GREEN MASHED POTATOES! I just remembered something!"

"What?"

"MASHED POTATOES! Mm…I can just taste their mushy goodness…filling me up and adding mayonnaise for no apparent reason and then adding chocolate milk! Ah, my friends and I would do that for hours unless we were at school, which was the only time we did it. Then we wouldn't do it for hours. Just for about thirty minutes. Yes, mashed potatoes were fun. Speaking of which…do you have any?"

"No. Sorry."

"Do you even know what they are?"

"No. Sorry."

"Well that's OK. Do you know what mayonnaise is?"

"No. Sorry."

"Darn. You do have eggs here, right?"

"Yep."

"THEN WE SHALL MAKE MAYONAISE!" she said, bouncing on the bed. "Wait, I don't know how to. Never mind."

"Right. Well, that's one idea gone."

"Yeah. Hmm…"

"Rauru said yesterday, accidentally of course, that each of the sages would visit us on each of the days. So, does that mean that's predetermined, or do we just go and they follow?"

"I don't know."

"I think it's us. Except for Rauru, we kind of chose them all."

"I don't think so. Saria came to us the first day, we went to Nabooru, and then Rauru came. Or, maybe I have no idea."

"Neither do I." He said. Meghan looked down and played around with the sheets on the bed for a few seconds while they sat in silence. She didn't realize that he was staring at her. "Where did you get this?" he said, putting his thumb on the cut on her forehead. It was the one she got when riding Epona through those woods yesterday. She pushed his hand away.

"Nowhere."

"Well obviously you got it somewhere."

"Nope. It's all in your mind."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"I didn't get anything. I told you it's in your mind."

"I just wanted to know."

"It's not important. What is important is that you seem to be imagining things. Do we need to recommend you to a doctor?"

"No. It was a simple question that you are too stubborn to answer."

"I would answer it but since it will make no difference for the future what happened, it's not necessary."

"It is quite necessary."

"No, it's not."

"It could be important. For all I know, a monster could have attacked you." Meghan got off the bed. "That would certainly affect our future. Possibly symbolizing the return of Ganondorf."

"Yeah, well that's not what happened." She said, realizing now why he wanted to know.

"Then what did happen?"

"Nothing, it's really not important."

"Yes it is."

"Why do you care so much? I told you that it WASN'T a monster. That should be enough."

"Why is it so hard just to say it?"

"I scratched myself. Happy? You didn't need to make such a big deal of it."

"Yes, well how was I supposed to know that?"

"Link, what is wrong with you lately? Last night you barely listened to anything I said. You seem so distracted."

"I was just thinking."

"Yes, but what were you thinking about?"

"I would answer but it has nothing to do with the future." She was mad. She didn't know what to say.

"You're so mean, geezer."

"What's a geezer?" _Oh god. No matter what he does, I can't stay mad at him! _She giggled.

"An old man."

"Well then, that was completely irrelevant. Because I'm not even old."

"Compared to me, you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You're such an old, immature geezer."

"HEY!" he stood up. "I am not." He stood over her in a fake threatening sort of way, his face inches from hers.

"You don't scare me, Mister Hylian."

"Oh really?"

"You don't even have a sword. HAHA! Completely unarmed. I, however…have two weapons on me." she pushed him away.

"All right. I lose."

"Finally you admit something."

"Finally. Yes." She sat back down on the bed.

"So…"

"Where do you want to go today?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Nowhere." She bounced on the bed.

"No, seriously," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder so she would stop. She did. "Where?"

"Hey! Your bed is extremely bouncy. Don't stop me! Also…why do you always ask me? You say for once." She began to bounce again.

"Because it's polite to ask you."

"And am I not doing the same? Come on!"

"Fine. I feel like…"

"Yes?"

"I feel like going to…"

"YAH?"

"I FEEL LIKE SEEING FIRE!" He stood up.

"PYROMANIA! OH YEAH!" She stood up, punching the air in an upward motion.

"Pyromania?"

"Uh…never mind. How about setting something on fire?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know…but the Gorons will! ...That's it! We will see Darunia today! Awesome! Only I'm scared."

"Why?"

"I don't want a Goron hug…"

Dun dun dun…

"Well, neither do I, so we have something in common."

"Yes…"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" They walked out of Link's house, onto the balcony. Meghan jumped down the whole way.

"Ouch, I need to learn to stop doing that." She said as she tripped and fell to the floor. "Stinky…"

"You OK?" he asked, jumping down and NOT hurting himself.

"Oh yeah, yeah, fine." She said, waving her hand at him. "Just a moment of clumsiness, like the ones that overcome me every second."

"Hey! I just remembered…"

"What?"

"I forgot my sword!" Meghan stared in disbelief.

"You…of all people…"

"I know…crazy, isn't it?"

"You…"

"Yeah, I'll go get it." He turned around.

"You…"

"Meghan?"

"You…"

"Yeah?"

"You…"

"…"

"You…you…you…you…you…you…you…you…"

"I…what?"

"You…you…you…you…you…you…HOW THE HECK DID YOU FORGET IT?"

"You forgot it too, so what's the big deal?"

"That's it, you're going to pay!" she ran and tackled him.

"Hey!" he said, falling to the ground. Meghan stood next to him, glaring down into his face. Lying on his back, he looked up at her.

"Evil…" she said in a low voice.

"I didn't do it!"

"Yes you did! EVIL!" she put her hands on her hips.

"No, seriously…" he said, trying to get up. She put her foot on him.

"I AM THE DOMINANT SUPREME RULER OF THE WOLFOS!"

"You'll scare the Kokiris by doing that, Meg."

"What did you call me?" She asked menacingly.

"Meg…han." He added the last part quickly.

"Liar." She said threateningly.

"I'm sorry." She removed her foot and he sat up. "What's wrong with calling you that? You have nicknames for me."

"Because. I was just kidding." She said, smiling. He stared at her. "Come on, I'm sorry. Here," She held out her hand to him. She thought for a second. "I like that nickname. Yes, I do. You can call me that if you desire."

"Thank you." He said, taking it. She pulled him up as best she could. "It looks like I can't ever go five minutes without being attacked when I don't have a sword."

"That's right. The Dominant Supreme Ruler of the Wolfos attacked you and won."

"Yeah, I'll be right back." He quickly climbed the ladder and walked in his house. Meghan heard a metallic sound, then silence.

"Hey Meghan," he called from inside. "Should I bring my shield?" Meghan rolled her eyes at the strange question and laughed.

"Whatever you want." She thought for a second. "I'd bring it, though. Gorons are…" she faded away, trying to think of how to describe Gorons. She remembered she got run over by a Goron the first night she got here. She laughed quietly at the memory.

Link came a few seconds later with the sword, shield, and…that's all she saw.

"Ready?"

"Yup." She answered. They walked out to the field. They walked in silence for a few minutes. After about five minutes, Meghan said, "So…"

"Yeah?"

"What's up?"

"Why DO you ask such strange questions?"

"You asked me that last night."

"Yeah, I know that. But-"

"Have you ever thought that maybe my questions aren't weird, but yours are? Maybe you are just the weird one, and since you've been asking yourself all your own questions, mine seem weird. It's like that one guy said…what was his name? I forgot. He said 'I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call people weird that are weird.' Oh yeah! It was Paul McCartney." Link thought for a second.

"No I honestly didn't think about that. And who is Paul McCartney?"

"He is some dude. I forgot what he did. I think he was a singer or something. But I'm not sure…"

"That makes me think. I must be very weird."

"Yes, so am I."

"People say…interesting things where you come from."

"Yeah, I'm full of quotes. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said 'It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.' And William Faulkner said 'I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail…because he has a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.'"

"I like that one. Who is William Faulkner?"

"I have no idea."

"Ah."

"I have one that you would like even better. I don't remember who it's said by. 'The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience." (A/N-this is a quote by Leo Tolstoi)

"Yeah, I like that one better."

"It so suites you. Sorta. A warrior, and Time. Why am I just remembering all of these?"

"How do you know them?"

"Uh, places. They stuck in my mind."

"Normally things that long don't stick in my mind."

"Yeah, mine either. School, I guess." She thought for a second. "I feel like running. Yes, I am an odd little…thing."

"OK, go run."

"Okies, see you in Kakariko!" She walked a few quick steps, then turned around. "On the other hand, I'LL RACE YOU!"

"Now why would you do that? You know I'll win." He grinned mischievously.

"No, this time I'm not dripping wet and tired."

"OK."

"Hey, do you have the ocarina with you?"

"Which one?" he said, taking two ocarinas from his pocket.

"Hmm…" she said, and then pointed at the Fairy Ocarina. "That one. Can I borrow it?"

"Sure. May I ask why?"

"You'll see. Ready?"

"Yup." He said, getting ready to run.

"Set?"

"Uh…"

"GO!" they started running. They had yet a while to go until Kakariko. This was where Meghan's plan would come in handy. Luckily he was so nice; otherwise he might not have let her borrow the ocarina without a reason.

When they had been running for a few seconds, and they were about tied, Meghan pulled out the ocarina. She played Epona's Song, ( ) all though it was very hard to do while running. She played it slowly, because she need to take a breath between each note.

"What are you doing?" Link asked, stopping.

"Cheating." She said back, still running. Soon she heard Epona's hooves on the ground, and she turned towards where Lon Lon Ranch was and saw Epona running towards her. The only problem was she didn't have a saddle on. "Oh great."

Epona ran to her. Meghan's plan was going to fail, unless she found some way to ride bareback. She stopped.

Link took advantage of this momentary hesitation. He ran ahead of her.

"HEY!" she said, trying to figure out how to ride Epona. If she could just get on…

"HA HA HA HA…" he said. She had to find out how to get on…

Meghan put her hands around Epona's neck, but knew that wasn't going to work. She only would allow herself a little more time, and then she would have to go without Epona. She would lose, though. "Why is your saddle not on?" she whined. She knew the wall wasn't too far away. Could she risk the time getting there? If she successfully got on Epona, she wouldn't have to worry about that, but what if she didn't?

"Oh well. Come on, Epona." She said, clicking her tongue. "I need you." She ran to the wall, which was a good fifteen feet away. She played the song again, and Epona trotted over to her new location not too far away. She led Epona as close to the wall as possible, put the ocarina in her backpack, then got on her. She entangled her fingers in her mane, and gave her a squeeze to get her going. Meghan felt like she was going to fall off, even though she wasn't. Epona wasn't going fast enough. She squeezed more and gave her a pat on the rear, and that got her going.

"Sorry." She said, still squeezing. Epona started catching up to Link, who was still far away. "Come on, come on, come on…" She whispered to Epona, who was going pretty fast. Meghan held onto Epona's mane as best as possible. She felt herself sliding off. She tried to grab around her neck, but was scared to let go. "You don't even have a halter on!" she said. She was riding full out bareback. That was a very scary experience. Still, she was catching up to Link.

Soon, when they were nearing the bridge that crossed over the water to Kakariko, Meghan wasn't far away. She could catch up if Epona went a bit faster…

"Yah!" she said to Epona, who turned her gallop into a faster gallop. She wanted her to go faster. "Come on, you can do it. I know you can." She said to Epona. Link looked back at her, and picked up his pace.

"Mwahahaha, it's not so easy, is it?"

"CHEATER!" he said as she passed him and galloped over the bridge, Epona's hooves making a temporary hollow clacking sound, then returning to the grass sound. It was then when Meghan realized…

"Oh my goddesses! How do I stop her?" she realized she was squeezing Epona hard, and so loosened that, and pulled back on Epona's mane. She whinnied and stopped on her own accord. Meghan straightened herself, sitting up tall on Epona, and smiled down at Link. "I am still the Dominant Supreme Ruler of the Wolfos."

"And I am a puppy." He said. He seemed angry. She pushed back her hair and flattened it.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked from atop Epona as he slowly walked toward her.

"No."

"I'm sorry. I know I cheated."

"I'm sorry, but I just find this really satirical. Before you told me that the greatest warriors were time and patience, yet you continue to feel that you had to cheat to win this race."

"Oh," Meghan said. She just realized that. But then she said. "But Link, would you have said that if you had won this race? I mean, would it have mattered if I cheated or not if you had won?"

"Meghan, it would not matter. And it doesn't matter to me now. I'm just saying it's…it's somewhat hypocritical."

"OK. I'm sorry. I realize what I did."

"No need to get so down. I guess I am jealous." He said, smiling a bit.

"Oh stop." She said, smiling. "I cheated. You shouldn't be." She swung one leg over Epona, and sat sidesaddle on her. She was about to jump down, but realized it wasn't the best way for her or Epona to dismount. Link saw her situation and walked over, holding out his hand so she could take it and he could help her down. She grabbed it and he effortlessly got her down.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." They walked to the entrance to Kakariko Village. "That was pretty remarkable. You rode Epona without a saddle or anything. I've been riding her for a while and I still don't think I could do that."

"Well, I didn't think I could too. But Epona is really smart…I sorta knew I could trust her. I think." They were just coming into Kakariko. "Maybe another time we can hang around here."

"Hang around? What's that…?"

"It means…I don't know. Hang out. To…just kind of…associate, mingle, spend time, etcetera, etcetera…"

"And etcetera means…?"

"Uh, so on, so forth, more, going on…I feel like a dictionary, or a thesaurus at least."

"Wha-"

"A thesaurus is a book that tells you synonyms for words."

"I knew that. I wasn't going to ask about that one. I was just wondering, did you hear something strange?" She stopped and listened.

"No…"

"Oh, I can hear it."

"What does it sound like?" They were standing at the entrance to Death Mountain.

"It sounds like something falling. Like rocks or something…" Meghan listened hard.

"Curse my short little ears. I don't hear it. No! Wait!" she heard a rolling sound, then a sound like something got knocked down. "It sounds like the volcano began to erupt again."

"Yes, it does, but I don't think it is."

"Then what do you suppose it is?"

"I have no idea. Let's check it out." He continued forward. They walked up the mountain, until they got where the path split in two spots, to the rough mountain climbing up the mountain, which led to the Fire Temple and Great Fairy, and to Goron City. The sound was even louder now. It sounded like a Goron rolling towards them, but none came. Then came a sound that made Meghan jump. It sounded like something got knocked down.

"What the heck is it?" she said.

"I have no idea." They walked forward again. They walked towards Goron City. Then they saw something that caused them to stand with their mouths open for a few minutes.

The Gorons were all standing in a blob of Gorons. Darunia and Link (Goron Link) were in the middle. Darunia rolled himself up in a ball and rolled. He rolled towards these big rocks that looked like pins.

"They're bowling." Meghan said in shock.

"Yeah…" Link said, watching Darunia roll towards them. He impacted. All of the pins except one on the side fell down. He ricocheted off the little platform thing, where the pins were set up in front of. As he uncurled himself and looked at how he had done, the crowd cheered. It was a weird sort of cheer, but they could tell it was a cheer. It was then when Darunia saw them. Goron Link followed his gaze.

"Link!" Goron Link yelled. He ran through the crowd to Link. He had grown, and looked strong like his father. But he was still little.

"Hi, Link!" Link said. This was odd to Meghan. "You've grown, I see."

"Yeah! I'm going to be just like my father!" he said, smiling a Goron smile. A random Goron came up to Meghan.

"Hi! I remember you! You're the human!"

"Uh…"

"Remember me?"

"No…I'm sorry."

"I remember you. You're the girl from a different dimension!"

"Oh…yeah that's me."

"I never asked you my question!"

"OH! I know who you are! You're that goron I met when I first came here."

"Yup, Gordley is the name."

"Gordley?"

"Yes. Can I ask my question now?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I was wondering if you would listen to my joke. No one else will listen to me."

"NO! DON'T DO IT!" The crowd said simultaneously.

"Why not? What's the harm? Go ahead."

"NO!"

"YAY! Someone will finally listen to me! I'm so glad I could hug you!"

"AH! NO! No hugs, just jokes, OK?"

"No, you look like you need a hug."

"No!" He advanced on her. "Please, I'm fine. I don't need a hug…" He was closer. "Link! Help me!" she ran behind Link. He laughed. Gordley looked disappointed. "Just a joke." She said, from behind Link.

"Oh, all right."

"NO!" the crowd said. Gordley took a deep breath, and seemed nervous.

"Al…all right. OK, I can do this." He seemed REALLY nervous. All the Gorons looked on, obviously not wanting to listen, but knew they had to.

"It's OK, just tell me." Meghan coaxed, stepping a bit out from behind Link. "Just take a deep breath, and tell me."

"OK. Why…why did, did, did, did, did…the…Goron…need a bath?"

"Um…" Meghan said. Link seemed to be thinking.

"Because…because he…rolled around in the mud! HAHA!" Gordley laughed. Meghan did too. Not because it was funny, but because it was so stupid it was funny how stupid it was.

"That was good!" she said. "Do you have any others?"

"NO!" the group yelled.

"Yes, I do!" He seemed more confident now.

"OK, let's hear it." She ignored the moans of the crowd.

"All right. This is my favorite. Why did the Zora need water?"

"Uh…I don't know."

"Because he was a Zora! Bwahahaha!" he laughed. Meghan laughed too. That was so stupid wasn't even funny. But she laughed anyway. Link smiled. He didn't find it funny either.

"Any others?" Meghan asked. Link and Goron Link both gave her looks that said "no", but she did anyway. Just as Gordley opened his mouth to speak, a larger Goron came over.

"Uh, Gordley, son, I think it's your turn."

"OH BOY! Can I use a bomb?"

"Even though that's a different game, go ahead!" He produced a bomb from somewhere. Gordley took it, then rolled up in a ball around it. He rolled down to where the pins were re-setup. He impacted the pins with an explosion, shaking the ground.

"Wow! Best so far!" Darunia said. All the pins were knocked down.

"Hurray!" Gordley said. Darunia took this chance to walk to Link , Link, and Meghan.

"Father, father, he is here!" Goron Link said excitedly. Darunia walked to Link.

"It's good to see you again, Brother." He moved to Link as though he was going to hug him. Link backed up.

"Yes. It is good to see you again, too." He said, making sure Darunia wasn't going to.

"I'm happy you could come and visit us. I am sorry; we were in a game of Goron Bowling. Would you like to join us? We have refreshments." He gestured to a pile of rocks.

"Um, sure. We just can't bowl the way you can."

"That's OK! You can use a rock!" he pointed to a spherical boulder leaning against a wall on the mountain. Meghan tried not to laugh. Link smiled and nervously laughed.

"O..K…" he said.

"Would you like to go now?"

"Well…"

"Or you can eat something."

"No, no. We'll go unless it's someone else's turn."

"You can go!

"Yeah, the Hero of Time has to go!"

"Yeah!" said a bunch of Gorons randomly. They all nodded their heads.

"Well…" Link said.

"Come on, Link! You can do it!" Goron Link said.

"OK. I think." He stood still for a second.

"I'll move the rock to the correct position." Darunia went over to the huge boulder and rolled it to a line on the rock floor. Link hesitated for a second, then walked over to the rock. Meghan wasn't sure if he could move it, but she remembered his gauntlets.

"GO LINK!" she yelled. He stared at the rock…erm…boulder for a few seconds, before pushing it hard. It rolled sort of to the side, knocking all but three adjacent pins down. He stared at what he did for a few seconds. A Goron was rolling the boulder back to where he was standing.

"Go again!"

"Again?" he asked. He seemed quite disappointed. He pushed the boulder again without even looking. Surprisingly enough, he hit all three pins. "Navi! I didn't want to hit them!" he whispered.

Meghan realized that Navi had helped him target at the last second. How he didn't know, she wasn't sure. But…yeah.

"Link, don't get so upset. It's OK to win!"

"But I don't want to!" he pouted. "Because now all the Gorons will come and-"

"YAY LINK!" They all surrounded him, arms spread apart. They slowly closed in on him.

"Oh." Navi said flatly. Meghan looked on in horror…there must have been thirty Gorons there! What was he going to do? She couldn't help him, she was stuck outside of their ring. She had to stop them…she could just see Link in between them, barely.

"DARUNIA!" She yelled. She had to think of something fast. "Saria is here!"

"What?" he turned and looked at her. That didn't stop the other Gorons.

"LOOK! A BIG, SIRLOIN ROCK! OVER THERE! IT'S BIG ENOUGH FOR BIGGORON TO EAT!" All the Gorons looked at her. "QUICK! IT JUST WENT THAT WAY!" She pointed down the mountain. They all walked towards where she pointed. All except Goron Link and Darunia.

"Where is Saria? I didn't see her." Darunia asked.

"Oh, I saw a bit of green something…it must have been my imagination. I could have sworn I saw some green hair, though."

"Oh." Darunia looked down. Link walked next to Meghan and whispered to her,

"Thanks." She nodded.

"That was good roll, Link!" Goron Link told him.

"Thank you." He said.

"We did not see it." Gordley said. But Meghan didn't know it was Gordley. They all looked slightly the same to her…

"It must have gotten away." She said quietly. She really didn't like to lie to them. They were such nice creatures. They just didn't know their own strength.

"That's a shame. It would have been good! We would have shared, too," said a Goron. Meghan stayed silent. Then Darunia broke the silence.

"Meghan! Would you like to go?"

"Uh…"

"Come on, Meghan! It would be fun." Goron Link said. She looked at Link, with a look on her face that clearly said "HELP ME!". He gave one back that said "whatever you want to do".

"O…O…K…" She had no idea how she was ever going to pull this off…

"Come on! Go Meghan!" they cheered. She walked over to the boulder, which she couldn't even see over. She put her hands on it, and pushed with all her strength. She kept pushing. She stopped for a second, taking in a deep breath. Then she resumed. Link looked on for a second, and then decided to help. He walked over to her.

"Let me help." He said quietly.

"No, wait, I almost have it." She responded. She pushed with all her body weight, and with all her strength.

"Seriously, Meg. This thing weighs more than you. Really."

"Why…would…that…matter? It…probably…weighs…more…than…you…too."

"Meghan, think logically."

"You're just showing off."

"And you're just delaying the inevitable."

"OK. Can you help me?"

"I'd be glad to." He put his hands next to hers, and together they pushed. Meghan crossed her fingers and hoped that all the pins wouldn't be knocked down. To her relief, four had not been knocked down.

"Yes!" She said. A Goron rolled the boulder back to them. They pushed it again, randomly…and sort of to one side…

"Aw, man!" Meghan said, when it completely missed. "That was so close!"

"It's OK, Meghan." Darunia advanced on her.

"Yeah, I guess I tried and that's all that mattered, right?" she ran behind Link.

"Why do you run, Meghan?"

"Because-"

"And why do you run behind Link?"

"No Rea-"

"Would it have anything to do with Nabooru's Crazy Theory?"

"And what theory would that be?" Link asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just a bunch of women nonsense."

"EXCUSE ME? WOMEN NONSENSE? WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"Nothing. Just Nabooru talks of strange things sometimes."

"OK…" She hated when they did that.

Darunia, Link, Link, and Meghan talked while all the other Gorons took their turns. They chatted of many things, good, bad, and just plain weird. An hour or so had passed before all the Gorons had had a few turns. Link and Meghan didn't want to go again, so they just said they were more inclined to watch. Which was true.

"YAY! I WON!" Gordley shouted a long time later. He had, of course (To shut him up) been using bombs each turn, but he seemed to be especially good at it either way. Meghan thought to herself, _heh heh, maybe he should just stick with bowling._

"Good job." She said, but she didn't think that he heard her. He was too busy being cheered by Gorons. "Or you can just ignore me. I'm down with that." She felt self-conscious for some odd reason. She quickly let the feeling go and skipped to Link, who was only about two feet away, so it required only about two skips.

"HIYA! Dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun, dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. I'm gonna fight 'em off. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back." She started doing the head-banging thing, her hair flopping around, and doing the air guitar thing, "playing" the bass part to "Seven Nation Army".

"I'm gonna fight 'em off. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back, They're gonna rip it off. Taking their time right behind my back. And I'm talkin' to myself at night..."

Link and Darunia looked at. She was a one-person-band. "And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, right before the lord. All the words are gonna bleed from me, and I will think no more. And the stains comin' from my blood tell me "Go back home"..." She took a look at her audience. "WHAT? I had it stuck in my head, even though I haven't heard it in quite a while."

"That was a depressing song." Link said. Goron Link looked at her.

"Yeah, I know."

"Even though I have no idea what you were talking about half the time." Goron Link looked at her too.

"What did that mean?" he asked.

"Hmm…I have no idea." (Insert anime fall) Darunia looked at her.

"Yes, she is special." Link said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Meghan smiled. Then her smile faded.

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?"

"More and less than you could ever comprehend." She stepped back.

"Yes, well."

"Sorry, I often have these strange outbreaks and do weird things. Please forgive."

"All is forgiven, and there was not much to forgive in the first place." Meghan laughed.

"Thanks." There was a bit of silence. Meghan looked at the ground. There was this odd feeling around.

"Meghan, there's something I have to do." Link said suddenly.

"What?"

"I'll be back. Darunia, will you excuse me?"

"Of course."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to consult somebody on…something."

"What would that something be?" She asked out of plain curiosity.

"I need to see Zelda."

"Why do you need to see her?"

"Be- SHIEK? I mean, Zel-I mean…"

"It's OK, Darunia knows." Shiek…Zelda…whoever said.

"You always seem to pop up when we have a question." Meghan said.

"Yes. I guess I'm just fortunate. Link, tell me, what do you need me for?"

"I needed to ask you…a question, in private."

"Why, sure Link!"

"Can we go…over there?" he said, pointing.

"Of course. I'll be back, Meghan, Darunia, LINK." She winked at Goron Link. She followed Link down the mountain.

_She always seems to pop up at the weirdest moments. I wonder if that was just coincidence? Ahhh, she probably has her reasons._ It was then when she realized. _Link; don't leave me alone with the Gorons! What if they attempt to hug me? _She whined in her head. _And what are you asking Zelda that you can't tell her in front of me?_

Uh-oh, someone's jealous.

MEANWHILE…(This is getting to be too convenient)

"And that's what I want. But promise you won't tell her?"

"Of course. I'll tell her something else."

"Thank you Zelda." He removed the Ocarina of Time from his pocket. "Oh, yeah, and thanks for this." He held it tight in his hand. Zelda looked down.

"Of course, Link. I know you really should keep it." They stood in silence for a second.

"I'll see you in a while." He played the Bolero of Fire. Zelda did some quick thinking, and walked back to Meghan. She saw the look on her head when Link didn't come with her.

"Hi again. Where's Link?"

"He had to go retrieve something. He dropped it down the mountain."

"O…K…" _But then…what? Why would he need to ask Zelda something then?_

"You are probably wondering why he needed to speak to me. Well, it's because what he dropped was the Ocarina of Time." Meghan's jaw dropped.

"WHAT?"

"Yes, it's the truth." She looked over the side of the mountain. "Let us just hope that it is all right."

"Yeah." _Good, she believes me. I don't like telling the untruth, though._ "How did he drop it? And when? I never saw that."

"Well, he did."

"That stinks."

"Yes. Oh, yes. Meghan, I have some things for you at the castle. If you could come at the end of the day, that would be wonderful. I must be going now." Zelda stepped back and disappeared.

"She always has to go somewhere!" Meghan said partly to herself, although the two Gorons heard.

"She is busy, Meghan. Let her go."

"I know."

"Do you need a hug?"

"NO!" She said, and stepped back.

MEANWHILE…

"Thank you, Biggoron."

"Remember, one."

"Yes, I will."

(A/N- this is really sad because you won't actually know what happens here until the sequel. YOU SHALL SUFFER! MWAHAHa, uh, ahem. ON WITH THE STORY!) (Maybe I shouldn't have told you that?)

MEANWHILE…

"Sands beyond imagination…hmmm mmm m m" Meghan started humming the Gerudo song while waiting for Link to return. She was inside Darunia's room. She still didn't know why she was there, but Darunia sure loved the Fairy Ocarina and kept trying to play Saria's Song.

"Meghan, how do you…?"

"Let me see it." She held out her hand and he put it in it. Meghan brought it to her lips. She took in a breath.

"Meghan Meghan!" A squeaky voice said.

"Navi?" She turned her head and saw Navi fly in through the doorway.

"Meghan! You'll never guess what Link just did!"

"What is that?" She asked, though she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing Navi was going to tell her.

"H-"

"NAVI!" Link jumped and closed his hands around her.

"Lemeego!" Navi said, her voice muffled.

"What is it? What did you do?"

"I…went down the mountain!"

"Is it OK? Oh, yeah. Zelda told me."

"Is what OK?"

"Duh. The reason you went down the mountain." She said. Link blinked and let Navi go._It must be what Zelda told her. But what is she talking about?_

"Oh, yeah…it's great! Couldn't be any better. In fact, why don't we forget all about that?" _I can see why he would want to. That's pretty embarrassing!_ Little did she know that she was completely wrong.

"Link, I was just about to play Saria's Song for Darunia, but I think perhaps now you should, because you are WAY better at it than I am."

"OK, I think." He knew what Darunia would do. He'd start dancing like a maniac. Oh well. Link got a bit of stage fright for a second, though. He hesitated when he brought the Ocarina of Time to his mouth. It looked like Meghan was looking at it extra carefully. _Maybe this is what she was asking about. _Then he played Saria's Song.

Sure enough, Darunia began to dance! Meghan watched in awe…she had never seen him in real life. He jumped from one foot to another, bouncing all the while and singing the tune to himself. Link lowered the Ocarina with his mouth open.

"YEAH! OH BABY! SARIA, THAT IS ONE FINE TUNE!" he danced for at least five more minutes before,

"Isn't he ever going to get tired?" She asked Link.

"Hmm, depends."

"On what?"

"His stimulus."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning that if he has nothing else to do, he will go on all day."

"Should we stop him?"

"No, he's happy."

"Yeah, you're right." So they leaned against the wall and watched Darunia's dance. His son wasn't present at the time. So they were alone together as they watched him.

"Link…this is getting strange." She said as Darunia hopped in circles. "Do you think he would notice if we left and came back a few minutes later?"

"No, but we shouldn't try anyway."

"But we're standing right here and he doesn't hear us. I don't think he is going to miss us."

"He'll stop eventually." Meghan watched him.

"OK, this is getting tiring. Darunia!" She yelled. He didn't seem to hear her. "Um…Darunia! Link, let's say it at the same time."

"O…K…"

"One, two three! DARUNIA!" Meghan said by herself. Darunia kept dancing. "Oh, right you were supposed to say it on the count of three."

"Alright…"

"One…two…three! DARUNIA!" they both said.

"Yeah?"

"Well, that worked!" Meghan said.

"You were dancing. A lot." Link said.

"Uh…has anyone seen Link?" he ran into the entrance to the Fire Temple.

"Well…so seriously, how did you drop it? I never saw you drop it."

"I…um…accidentally threw it?"

"What?" She asked at the stupid remark. "I never saw you throw it."

"Yeah."

"And you wouldn't anyway."

"Yeah…"

"So how did you drop it?"

"I guess I just did."

"Ah, I give up!"

"I wonder where Darunia went?"

"That was WAY too comical for comfort."

"Yeah."

"Do you think he's coming back?"

"No."

"Yeah, me neither. Should we go?"

"I think maybe we should find him. Before we leave."

"Does anybody ever even know what time it is around here?"

"Did you look at the clock?"

"Clock?" she looked to where he pointed. "Oh…OK, yeah that helps." The clock read 4:59. "WHAT? Wow, we were here longer than I thought."

"Yes, one minute…not even…until 17:00." Suddenly they heard large footsteps. And a pair of smaller ones. Then Darunia came back through the entrance/exit to the Fire Temple, with Link at his side. (This is getting too convenient for comfort…)

"It is nearly 17:00." He started Meghan made a small noise and pointed at the clock. "I mean, it IS 17:00. Do you not think you should be going?"

"Yes, we should. Thank you, Darunia. We had a good time today."

"Bowling was a blast!" Meghan said.

"Yes, the bowling was fun." Link agreed, although neither of them really meant it. Meghan never like bowling back home, and Link…had a bad experience with a bombchu one time when he was younger.

"I am glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to join us any time."

"Yes, please come back Link and Meghan." Goron Link said.

"Bye!" Meghan said.

"Good bye." Link said as they left the room and into the darkness between rooms. They entered the area with the huge Goron thing, and made their way to the exit. Some Gorons still outside said bye to them as they walked by. They went down the mountain, talking about some things. Meghan decided not to make a big deal of the ocarina thing. It was OK, wasn't it?

When they were down the mountain and coming into Kakariko Village, Meghan said to Link, "Zelda wanted me to go to the castle at the end of the day."

"Do you want to go now?"

"Um, yeah. The only thing is…I think…she…no offense, but she wanted me to go alone."

"That's OK. I'll find something to do. In fact, there's a lot that I have to do. I'll walk you there, and you can have fun with Zelda."

"Link!" she playfully smacked him in the arm. "You make me feel bad."

"Please, don't. I don't mind. And that hurt."

"Whatever." She smiled and laughed.

"It would take forever just to walk there. Should we teleport?"

"Where to? And it wouldn't take that long to walk!" She said. She didn't want to go in the Temple of Time, though that's where she was sure he was thinking to go.

"The Temple of Time. And yes it would."

"Oh, please, can we not go there? I really, really don't want to. And why are you suddenly thinking that it would take long? We could have been halfway there already."

"Sure. That's OK, I don't want to either. I just thought it would be fastest."

"We can ride Epona."

"Or maybe just you."

"What?"

"Like I said, I have some things to do. It'd be easier for you to go by yourself." _OK, what's with the sudden attitude change. First he's all like 'darn, I wanna come,' and now he seems like he doesn't want anything to do with me! If he had just replaced the 'some' with 'better', he would have said I have BETTER things to do! This dude needs to make up his mind. What just happened? Did I do something?_

"But…"

"I'll walk you to the field."

"But I want you to come too!" She blurted out.

"I'm sorry. I'll see you later." He said reassuringly, and he smiled. Meghan stared in shock, and weirdness.

"Alright then…" This was getting odd.

When they had reached the field, Meghan took out the Fairy Ocarina and called Epona.

"I hope she has her saddle on."

"Yeah." Luckily, she did. As Epona trotted over the bridge, Meghan put the Fairy Ocarina back in her backpack. She sighed with relief, seeing the saddle on her back.

Meghan put her foot in the stirrup, and pulled herself on.

"When you are finished, go back to my house. I'll either be there or somewhere else."

"That's really narrowing it down. What if you aren't there?"

"Then I'll come back."

"But how will you know when I'm there?"

"Fairies can be quite useful." Navi beamed. But then her color faded and she started,

"Hey! Wait! You want to use me as your little messenger? Well, I'm…" she continued on inside of Link's hands, where she was securely grasped. All Meghan heard were muffled sounds. Meghan suppressed her giggles as Link rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you later Link." She said, forgetting Link's strange attitude.

"Yes, I will see you." Meghan turned Epona and led her into a trot as they crossed the bridge. Link let Navi go.

"Navi! That is the second time you almost did that!"

"Did what?"

"You know what!"

"No I don't."

"Just go to the forest. Come back to me when she is there." Link turned towards Kakariko.

"OK, Mister Hylian." He turned to face her and glared.

"Don't."

"BYE!" Navi flew away nervously. For some reason, as she noticed too, Link was acting so strange lately. She thought to herself while flying.

"He is so mean to me for some reason all the time! All I want to do is tell Meghan, but for some strange reason, he won't let me! And the worst part is, he won't even do it himself!"

MEANWHILE…

Meghan pushed Epona into a gallop. Not that she was far away, but it would take even less time.

She didn't even remember the decision she had to make.

At the bridge, Meghan dismounted. She let Epona go and walked inside the walls. She passed the town, which seemed to be finished. Or nearly finished. She noticed some people in some of the buildings. They seemed to be setting up the shops. That was good. It seemed Hyrule was recovering. Maybe faster than herself. She could never completely forget what had happened during the times of war, and she inwardly missed fighting. But her conscious self didn't recognize this longing, and so she didn't think about it.

When she had passed through the town, she came into the castle yard. A group of guards were positioned along the path, and some in the grass along the path and far off.

"Looks like Zelda has the place guarded again. How am I supposed to get in?" She asked herself. The guards noticed her. One person was standing in the middle of some guards, dressed in a gold tunic and had a sword at his side. He had red hair, which was in a sort of style like Link's, except no hat. And that was his downfall. He noticed her and said,

"Are you the girl, Meghan, who Zelda wishes to let in the castle?"

"I am Meghan."

"I see. Come this way, then. Zelda is expecting you." The guy turned and walked down the path. Meghan followed some distance behind.

"Halt." Said a voice. She had heard it before. Or at least she thought…

She turned her head to where the voice came from. She silently groaned. It was General…what was his name?

"Sir, I am under orders from Princess Zelda to escort Miss Meghan inside the castle."

"No. Did you even check to see who she is?"

"Sir, not many other girls have a sword, hair, and ears the way she does. In fact, I don't think any others do. Please move so we may proceed."

"Never talk to me that way! Do you want to lose your position?" He seemed angered.

"General, you don't have the power to make me lose my position. I'm the spymaster. We're in two completely different groups. And Princess Zelda told me not to listen to anyone if they try this. Now, move aside, we must see the princess."

"Never. I am here to protect the princess."

"And I am here to obey the princess." He walked forward, and moved very close to the other man's face. "Disobey her, and YOU will lose your position." He said gravely.

"She wouldn't."

"Sir, I AM a spymaster." The general turned red from anger.

"YOU SPYED on the princess?"

"No, sir. She told me." He walked past the flaming general, and Meghan hurried past him too. Once they were out of earshot, Meghan said

"Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome."

"So you're the spymaster."

"As of today, yes."

"Today? Well, um I don't know what to say but I guess congratulations! _Or something_…"

"Thank you."

"You must be that spy Zelda was talking about yesterday."

"She talked about me?"

"Yeah. She said…well never mind."

"You're not going to tell me?" He said, flashing a smile. Meghan remembered the way Zelda had talked about him…

…_Or that new spy…" She sighed **dreamily,** "Yes, yes he would do very nicely._

Meghan realized something._ Oh my goddess, Zelda likes this dude! Not too shabby, either. Hmm…_

"No." He laughed.

"You are funny. Is this the way all humans are?"

"No. Some of them are evil."

"I see."

"And some of them are hyper."

"Hyper?"

"Yes, it means like crazy and stuff."

"Ah."

"_And some of them would be drooling over you the second they saw you_." She muttered to herself. Yup, Zelda had good taste.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." They had reached the castle.

"Zelda will be waiting for you in the throne room." He said, stopping.

"Uh…and where would that be?"

"Oh, right. You don't know your way around yet, do you?"

"No."

"Alright. I'll show you." He walked inside, and Meghan followed.

"Yet?" she said to herself.

After many confusing halls, they reached the throne room. The wide, wooden doors were open, although guards were stationed outside them. The spymaster walked in, and Meghan followed. Zelda was talking in the middle of the large room to some ladies in fine dresses, though not as nice as her own. Zelda looked and saw them coming. She smiled.

"Hello Meghan. Hello Luke." _Hm, so his name is Luke?_ "Oh, I guess you two never really met properly. Meghan, this is Luke Rinelo. Luke, this is Meghan Black."

"Nice to properly meet you." Meghan said, smiling.

"Yes, it is nice to meet you." He said, bowing low. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Meghan didn't know what to do. Zelda smiled. Luke beamed as he straightened himself. "Zelda says much about you."

"Zelda! Please, I really…"

"Oh, Meghan. You know that you deserve it."

"Please, don't. It's the same as you not wanting to be called princess."

"Oh, alright." She smiled. "Now, Luke. If you will excuse us, we must go."

"Of course, PRINCESS."

"Luke."

"I couldn't resist, Zelda." He grinned.

"Come Meghan. We'll see you later, Luke."

"Bye."

"Bye, Meghan. Bye, Zelda." Zelda walked out of the room with Meghan following. They went through all the corridors. For some reason, Meghan didn't remember going up stairs last time they were here, but they did this time.

"They finished making your clothes." She said as they walked. "Meghan, the room is also finished. Have you made your decision?" They were outside the room intended for Meghan's use. Meghan froze up.

_Oh my god. I never even mentioned it to Link. What am I supposed to do?_

"Oh my. You never told him, did you?"

Meghan lied. "Yes, I did."

"I see." Zelda could tell she was lying.

"And I'm…I think…" she had to decide very fast. What was she going to do? "I'm…going to stay."

"Are you sure this is your decision? Do you feel this is the right thing?"

"Yes." She said very gravely.

"And you do not need more time to discuss it, or to think it over?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Welcome to your new home, Meghan." She opened the door. Meghan saw the same room she saw a day ago. "This is your living room." She walked to a door on the right wall. "And this is your bedroom." She opened the door to reveal a large bedroom. In the middle was a large, four-post bed. There was also a dresser with many drawers, and a large mirror on top of it. A door opened to a balcony on the left side. Next to the door was a wardrobe thing. "That is where most of your clothes are. In those drawers you will find most everything you will need. And that, of course, is the balcony." Meghan nodded and swallowed. _This is where I'm going to live? This bedroom is two times larger than mine on Earth! Maybe more…_

"If you need any more clothes, please tell me or any of the seamstresses. Also, if you are ever hungry, the kitchens are down the hallway across from my room, the first left hallway, and the third right. Not too hard to miss, but if you need any directions, feel free to ask anyone around. Let's see…forgive me, I'm new at this…"

"Um, Zelda. I need to get my things from…Saria's house."

"Oh, right, right. Do you want me to teleport you there?"

"No, I'll go by myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Thank you anyway."

"Of course. Now, I still need to help you out of the castle!"

"Yeah." She laughed. "Right."

"Maybe I should put together some directions for you…that would be a good idea, I believe."

"Yeah." They exited the room. Meghan tried to remember all the directions they turned, but gave up after a while. She sighed.

Why had she made such a decision? If only she had remembered to tell him…then she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable about it.

Before she knew it, she was out of the castle and in the fresh air. The sun was setting.

"Thank you Zelda. I'll be back later."

"You are all right the rest of the way?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll have Luke here or a guard waiting when you come back to bring you to your room."

"OK, thanks." Meghan walked away. As soon as she was sure Zelda couldn't see her, she ran as fast as she could. She ran through the town, and into the field. She didn't even stop to call Epona. She just kept running. She ran to the fountain, her and Epona's fountain. When she got to the forest, she ran through it, following Epona's hoof prints and coming to the cave. She slowed down in the cave and walked through the almost total darkness, until she got to the brighter fountain area. She walked slowly to the steps in front of the water. She sat on the second to last one, and rested her head on her arms on the top area, where the water just barely touched. She observed it, the water completely still.

**Why couldn't life be as certain as that calm pool of clear water? Why must it more resemble a river, rushing one way and turning another? **She sighed deeply.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrr…" She heard in the background. (Yeah that was a REALLY bad onomatopoeia)

"Epona?" The horse walked over to her. "How did you know I was here? Did you follow me?" Epona came and sniffed her. "Silly, silly horse." She rubbed her neck. Epona brought her head back up, so Meghan had to stand to reach her. "Epona, you're so smart. What am I to do with you? What am I going to do with myself?" She gave Epona T-touch for a few minuets, telling her about her decision. "I guess I'll have to go tell Link. This isn't going to be easy. Come on." She took Epona's reins and led her back out the cave. When they were outside, Meghan mounted and told Epona to go slow through the woods.

When they were out of the woods, Epona went faster and they made their way to the Kokiri Forest.

"How is Link going to take this? How am I going to? Why do I keep asking questions in parallel structure?"

At last she had reached the forest, not knowing what lay ahead for Link and her friendship.

She sighed again as she dismounted next to the forest entrance. She gave Epona a quick pat, and then went inside. She crossed the bridge slowly, thinking of what to say to Link.

"Link, I'm sorry but I have to stay at the castle. No, uh, Link, Zelda has invited me to live at the castle, and I decided to. NO! Link, I'm going to live at the castle from now on…Link, you're my best friend, but I'm going to live with Zelda…Link, I can't live without you, but I'm going to!" That one was a mistake. She was in the forest now, and she saw Link conveniently standing next to his house. "Link…OH GOD!" She ran and didn't stop until she had Link in an embrace. She nearly knocked him down, running like that, but she did. She started crying almost instantly upon touching him. Although he had no idea why she was crying, he had a feeling it was big so he held her tight and comforted her. After a few minutes, he finally said,

"Shh…it's OK. Tell me what the matter is."

"Link, I'm…so…so…sorry." She said between sobs. "I…I…Zelda told me…to…to go…she asked me…if I wanted to…to live in the castle and I never told you because I forgot and then she reminded me and I still never told you, but then I need to tell he some answer so I said yes and now I have to go live there and I can't be here any more and I'm afraid if I don't live there, Zelda would be offended and I don't want to offend her, but I couldn't say no because she was so nice but I couldn't say yes, because I don't want to be far from here and I…I…I…said yes anyway! And now you are probably mad at me! Youseemedsomadatmebeforewhenyouwouldn'tcomewithmetothecastle." She started crying again.

"Sh, it's OK." He combed through her hair with his fingers, and said very quietly, "First, it was your decision to make. I wouldn't be mad at you ever. And second, I was never mad at you. What made you think that?"

"You were going to come with me, but then suddenly you didn't want to."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I only just remembered that I had something to do. I shouldn't have done that, though. I promise I won't decide to leave you so suddenly again."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"No. I swear I wasn't."

"OK."

"Come on, let's go inside, and we can talk about this." They climbed up the ladder to Link's house. When inside, Link told Meghan to sit on the bed. He walked around once, faced her, then said, "So you'll stay at the castle. It's really not that big a deal." Though inside, he knew it was. He had never forgotten what Saria had told him to do, when they first met Meghan.

FLASHBACK…

"What is it, Saria?"

"Look!" She showed him the letter that Meghan had left for them. He held it close to his face and read it carefully:

Dear Saria and Link,

I could not stay here. I am thankful for the hospitality you showed me, but I really must go.

I don't know where I'm going, but I don't know if I'll be back. I hope to see you again, but since I shall be searching for a way back home, I'm not sure if I will. I'll take this chance to say goodbye. And once again, thank you. You have showed me kindness that no one had ever shown me before.

Sincerely,

Meghan Black

"She doesn't get it, does she." Link said. Saria gave him a questioning look.

"What do you mean, 'she doesn't get it?'"

"I mean I don't think she realizes that there's no way back."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm not sure, I just know. It's like, I feel like she…I don't know…is important to saving Hyrule for some reason. I could be wrong."

"So you think she's going to stay here?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Well, then we must find her. We can't just leave her to fend for herself here. For a girl like her, it is quite impossible. She has no way of protecting herself."

"That's true. I guess…if we find her…we need to give her some sort of weapon."

"LINK! She's just a girl! She needs no weapons to cloud her mind with violence!"

"Yeah, I suppose you are right."

"What she needs is someone to protect her." Saria stared intently at Link. He looked back at her.

"WHAT?" he questioned, slowly realizing what she had just said. "You mean…you want ME? To protect her?"

"I can't think of anyone else."

"But…I need to save Hyrule…if I have to protect her, then she HAS to have a weapon, because then she would have to come with me to all the temples."

"True…"

Saria had told him to protect her. Because he had felt that she was somehow important.

So their being far away from each other meant he couldn't do his job.

"Yes it is, Link. We'll be so far away." She said, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief he had just offered her.

"True, but that doesn't obstruct our ability to see each other during the day."

"But what if something happens at night? You never know."

"Meghan, you'll be in the castle. There you'll be protected by endless amounts of guards, and not to mention Zelda."

"And Luke."

"Who's Luke?"

"Luke is Zelda's spymaster and…uh…friend."

"I see."

"He has a sword."

"Really?" he said in a comical sort of tone, to cheer her up.

"Yup." She said, smiling through her tear stained face. He was silent while he thought for a second. Then he pulled up a chair and sat across from Meghan on it.

"OK. We can have a plan. I'll be waiting for you every morning in Hyrule Castle Town at 9:30. You come and we'll go."

"Sounds good."

"And if anything ever, goddesses forbid, happens in the castle where you or Zelda are in danger, I'll be right here every night. Take Epona and come." She nodded.

"And if anything happens here that I need to see you, I'll find my way there."

"Don't you need to know where my room is?"

"Please. I'll find it. Temples are good practice for that."

"Yeah." She said, laughing a bit. "But what if I need to speak to you? It stinks that you don't have telephones."

"I'm just going to pretend I know what that is and agree that we do not."

"OK. But still."

"I guess the best way would for me to go to you, or you to come to me."

"What about Saria's Song?"

"Well, that sort of only contacts Saria."

"Yeah but…never mind."

"What?"

"No, never mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It was stupid."

"I'm sure it wasn't."

"But it was. So go on, please."

"We can ask Zelda if there is any way to contact each other next time we see her."

"OK."

"So are we alright with everything?"

"Yes. I think. I hope."

"Remember, I'll be here. I won't go anywhere, just in case."

"It's still so far away, though."

"We'll make do."

"OK." Meghan looked at him for a second. He was lost in thought. "Link, I should probably get my things from Saria's house."

"Oh, right." Meghan got up and walked outside, with Link following her. She went into Saria's house. Link stayed outside.

Meghan removed her backpack from her back and opened it. Its contents were two empty bottles, some rupees she gathered over time, and an ocarina. She slipped some of the rupees and the ocarina into her jeans' pockets. Her pants were in bad condition, good thing she was getting new ones! Yet…

She put the brush Saria gave her in, and her hair ties. She stuffed her clothes into the backpack. But alas, they did not all fit. She managed to get two shirts in, but nothing else. What was she supposed to put them in? _Guess I'll have to carry them. _It was only one shirt one pair of pants. Yet she couldn't leave them behind…they were too special.

Once she had closed the backpack (Which seemed to have grown to even fit what she did get to put in it) she looked around the house. It wasn't messy at all, but Meghan straightened it out. She made the bed nicer than it was, and made sure nothing was on the floor, straightened the rug, and fixed the things on the table. Everything seemed like it was when she first came.

"Good bye, my…temporary, generous home. I'll see you again." She walked out the door, clothes in hand and backpack on back.

"Come on." He said. They walked next to each other to the exit of the forest.

When they reached the field, Meghan found Epona where she left her. She stuffed her stuff in the pouch on the side of the saddle and turned to face Link.

"I don't want to go."

"It's OK. I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, 9:30." She nodded. She moved closer to him and hugged him tight for a while. When she finally let go, she mounted Epona and turned her.

She looked back at Link.

'Bye' she mouthed, and turned her head. She pushed Epona forward before he could respond.

"Bye."

Tears flowed from Meghan's eyes, for many reasons. Too many for her to even know most of them. Before she knew it, she was at the castle. Luke was there, talking to some guards, when he saw her. She was a bit far away, so she wiped her eyes.

"Hi there." He said. Meghan forced a smile. "Come along." He brought her into the castle, then to her room. Meghan was silent the whole time, unless Luke asked her a question.

"Here you go."

"Thanks." She opened the door to her room. She wanted him to go away, but he was watching her…

When she closed the door, she heard his footsteps farther and farther away. She leaned against the door and looked in the room. There was still a door that Zelda didn't tell her about. She went and opened it.

Inside was a bathroom, not a bathroom like we know it, with a toilet, but a BATHroom. There was a rather large bathtub, and a large mirror. It looked like they had running water…

She closed the door and went into the bedroom. She lay on the bed. It was not as bouncy as Link's, but was very comfortable.

She got up and looked in the wardrobe thingy. There were lots of clothes in there, hanging on hangers. There were many more colors than she had seen in her closet since…years ago. She had become a Half-Goth when she was thirteen. And now she was nearly sixteen. Was she really going to quit now?

Well, red wasn't so bad. There were lots of red shirts in there. White was doable, definitely. There were pairs of white pants, and white shirts of different styles. She saw some blue, and yellow. Maybe later she'd wear that. And she even saw black.

After looking around, (It was like shopping, with all the new clothes. She hated shopping.) she found pajamas. How she knew they were pajamas, she had no clue, but that's what it looked like. They were loose fuzzy sort of material.

_I swear. Zelda must be looking inside my head with her magic._ All the clothes looked like something she would wear back home…

She changed into the pajamas, a pair of pants and a loose shirt. She was too upset to worry about liking them or not. They were white. That's all she noticed. She put the sword on the dresser, and he knife on the nightstand.

There were about ten pillows on the queen sized (Estimated) bed. She tossed all but two on the floor. She pulled back the blankets. There was a comforter, a smaller blanket, and two sheets.

"What the heck?" She put the comforter and one sheet on the wood floor. She left the smaller blanket, which was red, and the white sheet on the bed. She looked at the bed before lying down. She got in it and looked in the large room. It was too large. It was about the same size as Saria's whole house.

Her eyes started to water.

"_Link, I miss you_." She said. She started to cry. And she cried some more. And more. When was the last time she had cried this much? The last time she remembered was when she stole the Kokiri Sword

That night she cried herself to sleep.


	56. DAY FIVE: Galaxy of the Horses

**I'm getting really bored with this story. So, I think this is the last chapter. I'm probably not going to do a sequel. Please read anyway? Don't be mad at me! Just read! Heh heh, and there's a late April Fool's joke somewhere within this chappie!...I meant to put it yesterday but...

* * *

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**Day Five**

Link had had a restless night. He couldn't stop thinking that horrible things were going to happen. The one time he actually fell asleep, he had a horrible dream he never wanted to even think about again. He sat up and looked towards his door. Why had he ever even allowed it?

He knew he'd be like this…yet it still happened.

MEANWHILE…

Meghan woke to the sound of birds chirping. She opened one eye and looked out the double doors to the balcony. They were like a window that she could see through completely. The only hints that it was a door were the small gold handles and a gold frame.

Small, colorful birds were perched on the thin rail around the balcony. She wanted them to shut up.

She wasn't in a good mood.

"Shut up." She said to them. Obviously they didn't hear. "Shut up! I'm sleeping!" she reached on to the floor and picked up a pillow. She chucked it at the door while still lying down. They flew away. She turned and lay on her back. She pulled the blanket over her head. She listened and heard a ticking sound. Like a clock. She pulled the blanket back off over her head and saw a clock on the wall to her left, next to the dresser. She squinted to see what it said.

"SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA!" She said loudly. It said 9:23. "Oh my god." She jumped out of bed and ran to the wardrobe. She threw the doors open. She pulled out a pair of black pants and a white shirt. The shirt was three quarters sleeved, and the pants were just plain black pants. She looked around the room…where the heck did she put her backpack? It wasn't next to her sword or her nightstand…or anywhere she saw…

"Darn!" she ran out of the room. She looked in the living room and found it on the couch. "How did you get there?" she opened it quickly and threw out the clothes that were in the way of her brush. She pulled the brush out and ran into the bathroom, stuck the brush in some water she caused to somehow come out of the bathtub, and brushed her hair quickly.

It didn't look the best, but it was OK. She didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. She rushed out of the bathroom and grabbed her backpack off the couch. She grabbed the sword and hung it by its sheath's strap on her shoulder, jammed the knife in her pants and put the pack on one shoulder. As soon as she was about to leave, she remembered the ocarina in her pants pockets from yesterday. She ran around the room, looking for her pants from yesterday. She cried out in frustration, and threw all the blankets on the floor onto the bed. She found her pants on the floor and hurriedly kneeled down to feel inside the pockets. She fumbled with the clasp of her pack and stuffed all the things from her pockets in it. When that was done, she ran out the room. She caught one last glimpse of a clock before getting into the hallway. It read 9:34.

"CRAP!" She said. She threw the door to her room open and closed it behind her, when she realized that there was no one around. And she didn't know how to get out of the stupid castle. Or how to get anywhere, except the kitchen and Zelda's room, conveniently placed not too far from her own.

"NO!" She cried. She looked one way, then another. She was pretty sure she came from one direction…or was it that one?

She chose one and ran down that hall. But where did she go now? She moaned loudly.

"Meghan?" She heard. It was a male's voice. Luke.

"Oh, god Luke! Um…can you show me out of the castle?"

"Of course. I was just going to see Zelda, but this won't take long." Today he had a blue tunic on.

"Luke, I'm in a hurry, is there any way we could…um, go FAST?"

"Well, would you like to run? Can't help you with much magic, though, I'm a mess when it comes to that."

"OK…I just need to be in Hyrule Castle Town at like, NOW."

"Alright, let's go this way then!" He turned one way. She followed him and they ran down the hall. They turned this way and that, with Meghan trying to put her sword on and stuff while holding the backpack. She gave up and decided to do it when she got to Link.

Soon they were outside.

"There you go."

"Thank you so much. I've gotta go." She waved and ran as fast as she could.

"Trespassing again, without a pass I see." Meghan wanted to bang her head on a wall.

"Shut. Up." She said and ran forward. General Shina walked in front of her.

"In a hurry? You're not going anywhere." She moved to the side to run around him, but he moved to. She clenched her fists and said through gritted teeth.

"Move it. Now."

"No." he said tauntingly. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't.

"EEERRRR!" she groaned. She balled up her fist and punched him in the face. When his head turned to the side from the blow, she brought her foot up and kicked him somewhere…you know where.

"Ow…" he said.

"And you deserved every last bit of pain," she spat. "I hope you die in the near future." She ran past him, shaking her hand out. It hurts to punch someone…

She reached the town, and saw Link looking the other direction. He turned his head toward her.

"There you are! I was beginning to get worried."

"Hi." She said insipidly. Her foot felt contaminated.

"What's up?" He asked with concern in his tone.

"Nothing."

"It doesn't seem to be 'nothing.'"

"WHY DO WE KEEP HAVING THE SAME FRICKIN' CONVERSATION?"

"Now my suspicions are confirmed. I know something's wrong." Meghan had never cursed in her life, out loud anyway. This was a very odd experience.

"I don't like this. I don't want to be so far away! You know what time I woke up this morning? Seven minutes before I had to come here! And then I got lost in that darn castle, and it wasn't until I was ESCORTED out that I actually got out, and then I ran into that freak SHINA guy, who is a complete idiot, moron, imbecile, butthead and jerk, and I had to actually attack him before I got here, which wasted another minute of my time, and THOSE DAMN BIRDS WOULDN'T SHUT UP THIS MORNING!"

_Hmm…when was the last time I've seen her this angry? The only time I can think of is when we were going to fight Ganondork. Then she was angry, I remember. Or else she wouldn't have gone by herself. _

"And you're going to let that get in the way of our day?"

"No, it was just annoying. I wish to kill Shina, that I do."

"OK. But not right now, OK?" He figured he should just go along…to avoid any sudden outbursts…or any long-term arguments…"Maybe tomorrow."

"Yes, yes. Tomorrow sounds good…" She said, taking on a devious tone and facial expression. "He shall suffer. And Zelda wouldn't be disappointed either."

"So who IS this Shina person?" He said as they walked out of the town.

"He is the supposed general of Zelda's guards, but he doesn't seem to even know what a sword is. He didn't seem like he knew how to fight either. I punched him AND kicked him and he didn't even try to block or dodge or anything. And I'm a terrible fighter. Zelda said that he was the general when her father was in command, but she also believes that he was one of Ganondorf's minions. So she wants to replace him with the spymaster, Luke. He is really awful. I don't like him. I don't think he likes me either."

"Really." _This Shina man is getting to seem quite annoying and unwanted in Meghan's life._

"Wait, no. I KNOW he doesn't like me. He s me, and by the way, where are we going?"

"Lon Lon Ranch."

"Really? Why? I mean, What for? I mean…"

"You'll see." So he listened as Meghan complained as they walked toward the ranch.

"And then the stupid birds WOULDN'T SHUT UP!"

"You said that one already."

"Oh, yeah. Well, then I got lost in the stupid castle…"

"Said that one too."

"Oh, I'm all out of complaints then."

"Oh, good."

"Goody goody!" Meghan said. They were right near the ranch. "So why are we here again?"

"Malon has a few new horses. I just thought you'd like to ride one for the day."

"Ride one? What about Epona?"

"She's my horse."

"Insert a hiss and you would have sounded like a cat." There was silence. "Just a random thought floating in my head."

"Alright." He was confused. Sometimes Meghan could be in her own little world…

"So…what am I going to do again?" she asked as they entered the ranch.

"You are going to borrow a horse from Malon."

"Alright…"

"There she is." Malon waved to them from where she was, in front of the…ack, what's that thing called? Uh…paddock I think is the word I'm looking for. (Help?)

"Hi, Malon." Link said cheerfully.

"Hi! Link, Meghan! Welcome!" She ran over to them. "I'm so glad you are here! Mr. Ingo, would you help me?"

"Do what, may I ask?" He said, smiling. Ingo was VERY ugly. He was fat and his face was UGLE. (Ugle is a word I made up meaning UGLY!) (Pronounced U-glay)

"I need help gathering all the horses."

"Of course."

"Could you get the ones from in the stables? And could you bring them to the paddock…"

"Of course, Miss Malon."

"Thank you. Now, Meghan I assume Link has told you?"

"Very vaguely, yes."

"Well, Link. That won't do! Come on, I'll explain. Today you will do what we Hylian horse people call a horse search."

"Uh…"

"Just go with it. It seems professional."

"OK."

"You can look through all the horses we have and pick out one that you'd like to borrow for the day."

"O…K…"

"Come on. Oh, thank you Mr. Ingo." He walked into the paddock with a horse's lead rope in each hand, of course each attached to a horse. "There are still a few more, but you may begin looking if you would like. If you need any background or references, feel free to ask." Meghan looked at the horses. Some were eating, some were walking around, some were playing…

She went over to a pretty horse. It looked at her and continued eating. Another one, that was a gray colored appaloosa, she walked over to tried to lick her hands.

"That's Remmy. He's a little mouthy."

"Yeah, sorta realized that." She went to another horse. This one ran away from her. At this point, Mr. Ingo came back with two more horses. One on his left seemed not to like him. As soon as he let it in the paddock, it ran to the other side. That one was very pretty. It seemed young. Meghan walked over to it.

"Hello." She said. It looked at her. "Malon, do you have any carrots or something?"

"Of course." She pulled some out from a pouch on her dress and handed two to Meghan.

"Hello. What's your name?" This horse reminded her of a horse she knew on earth, named Galaxy. They looked the same too. They were about the same size and the same color. She broke one of the carrots and held out her hand so it would take it. It sniffed it, and hesitantly grabbed it.

"This one is a young boy we have not named yet."

"Can you still ride him?"

"Yes, but he's shy. Not shy like Epona, by any means, but he…well, don't let Mr. Ingo know I told you, but he was broken the hard way when Mr. Ingo was in charge. Since then, he's wary of most people. I've gained his trust, but he doesn't like many people."

"I knew a horse just like him on earth. Only the reason that horse was shy was because they had just moved their horses to a new stable. He wasn't happy at the new place and didn't eat much. But I loved him at first sight, he was pretty. Much older though. I think he was in his teens, maybe twenties. When I fed him some hay by hand, I really fell in love with him and wanted to ride him. But the lady there said he wasn't the best to ride the first time. So I got stuck with the most stubborn and biggest horse at the place the first time I rode. I never got to ride him. But I still groomed him and cleaned his stall, and fed him. And gave him T-touch."

"Really?"

"Yes. He reminds me of him. His name was Galaxy." Meghan remembered Galaxy's eyes. She didn't know if this was why the called him that, but they were a beautiful blue and when you looked in them, they were like an endless galaxy, full of stars. She looked into this horse's eyes. She saw a similar thing.

"Do you like him? He seems to like you."

"Yes." Meghan laughed. "I remember one time when my mom went into Galaxy's stall to brush him all loud and like 'HI GALAXY!' and he freaked out. So I went in and had to groom him."

"That's funny." Malon said. "Yes, you need to be quiet when you go into a stall. Otherwise you could get cornered and that's not at all pleasant."

"No." she laughed. She could definitely see her mom doing that…her mom was careless around horses.

When Meghan was home, she volunteered at a horse farm that helped kids with disabilities. They would ride the horses and get therapy at the same time. Her mom volunteered also, for the kids, since she was a special education teacher, but Meghan loved it for the horses AND the kids. She loved going in the horses' stalls and talking to them.

"So this one is your choice?"

"Yeah, I like him."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Would you like to name him?"

"Uh, me? I'd never have a good name."

"Try hard. Who did you love where you came from?"

"Galaxy."

"Right."

"Is that an OK name for him?"

"Yes, of course."

"Galaxy. Hi. How old is he?"

"He is almost five."

"He went four plus years without a name?"

"Yes, well…most of that time was spent with Mr. Ingo in charge. Take good care of him today, Meghan. I'll retrieve his saddle. His halter is on the gate, if you'll get that."

"Sure." Meghan walked to the gate where Malon pointed and grabbed the halter and lead rope. The lead rope was white leather, and so was the halter. Malon went into the tack room to get the bridle and saddle. She came back with a dark brown saddle and a red and gold colored saddle blanket. The bridle matched the saddle. It was one of the prettiest saddles she'd seen. Epona's was still prettier, though.

"You know how to put it on?"

"Yes. It's been a while though. I should be able to, though." She took the saddle from Malon and put it on Galaxy. She pulled it up to the withers and strapped the girth on the left side, and pulled it on tight. She went to the other side and pulled it tight there too. She fixed the saddle, and then pulled the girth tighter. "Only thing, Malon, I never used a breastplate when I rode because we never jumped or anything. How do you put that part on?"

"Oh, here. Watch." She took it and attached part of it to the saddle and part to the girth.

"OK, I get it." She took the bridle, removed the halter, and attempted to fit the bit in Galaxy's mouth, but he spit it out. "Galaxy, stay still." He backed up. "Ah, hold on!" She fumbled with it for a bit and finally fit it in his mouth. "Good boy." He snorted.

"He certainly gives you enough work." Malon said, and patted him. "But we love him."

"He's so cute!" Meghan stood back and observed her temporary horse. He was a beautiful darker brown color, and the saddle matched his color. He had a white snip on his face, (For you non-horse people, that's like a star only on their nose) and had white mid-cannon on his hind legs. He was shorter than Epona, yet still tall. Perfect for her. She loved him.

"Are you ready?" Link broke her out of her little admiration reverie. He had disappeared for a while, while finding Epona.

"Yeah."

"Have fun!" Malon said. Link walked to her and handed her a purple rupee. "Link! I refuse to accept this!"

"No, take it. Please."

"Link…I don't want it." She said, giving it back.

"Please…Malon…TAKE. IT." He said. Although Meghan didn't notice it, he was trying to tell Malon that he would take it back LATER so Meghan would seem convinced.

"Alright…" she said, slipping it into her dress's pouch.

"Meghan, you ready?"

"Yes. Come on Galaxy, I'm going to be your tour guide and hostess. Please put your saddle in its upright position so we may get out of here. Thank you Malon, for allowing the borrow."

"Of course. Any time."

"Bye bye!"

"Bye Malon." Link said, leading Epona out of the ranch. Meghan took Galaxy's reins and led him as well. When they were out of the ranch, Meghan squealed in delight.

"LINK I LOVE HIM! Look! LOOK! Don't you see his beautiful face? He's SO CUTE! THANK YOU THANK YOU! LOOK AT HIS BEAUTY! THANK YOU!"

"You're wel-" But his words were replaced by choking sounds as Meghan hugged him very tightly. "Can't…breathe…"

"Oops, sorry!" She quickly let go.

"That's OK."

"I can't WAIT to ride him! Wait, how do I even know that he'll let me?"

"He will. Don't worry. Malon only let out the ones that were ride-able."

"Are you sure?"

"Why don't you try?"

"OK. Galaxy, I'm going to ride you now." She walked over to his side and put her foot in his stirrup. She leaned on him. "Are you OK with me?" He snorted. "You must be just as smart as Epona. Do you mind if I ride you?" He didn't do anything. "Well…"

"Maybe he speaks Hylian. Malon probably talks to them in it."

"Oh, you're right. How do you say, 'do you mind if I ride you?'"

"Do you mind if I ride you?" He said in Hylian. Meghan copied him. Galaxy snorted and shook his head.

"Good boy!" she said in Hylian. She knew that much. "You need to learn English." He shook his head. "You know English?"

"What's English?" Link asked. Meghan stared at him.

"You don't know?"

"I thought it was a type of riding." Meghan smacked her hand to her forehead.

"Wow." Was all she could say.

"What is it?"

"All this time, you've been talking this language, and you didn't know?"

"No."

"Are you sure you just didn't forget?"

"I always thought it was Terminian." (Insert anime fall) (Heh don't yell at me, I really don't know that much about MM so I have no idea what I was just talking about. Please go with it? Either that or tell me the correct way to say like a person from Termina.)

"LINK! Wow. Wow." She didn't know he didn't know. She was sure she'd mentioned it before to him, but…seriously?

"I'm sorry." He grinned sheepishly.

"Ah, whatever. Now you know. Come on Galaxy. I'm going to ride you now." She went over to him and pulled herself on him. He seemed not too tense. "Good boy. So, which language do you know? English or Hylian? Do you by any chance know any French?" He nickered. "What?" He did again.

"Maybe you should ask him one by one." Link said as he mounted his own horse.

"OK. Galaxy, do you know English?" He nodded his head up and down. "Then why did you not respond?" He nickered. Link laughed.

"I guess he was stubborn, like someone I know."

"HEY!"

"Yes, she is special."

"Stop saying that!"

"Yes, of course. You are royalty now that you live in the castle. I must obey!" He said in a weird voice.

"Shut up!"

"No." he said tauntingly.

"AAAHHH! STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND!" She pushed Galaxy forward. He had a different feel than Epona. Epona was more…different. Epona was a ! Meghan pushed him into a trot.

"Is he…uh, what are the words I'm looking for, good to ride I guess?" Link asked when he caught up to her on Epona.

"Yes, I like him. His gait is smooth and…he's cute!"

"Good." Was all Link said. _No, perfect._

"Galaxy, can you go faster?" _She really seems to like him._ Galaxy snorted and cantered. "Yay!" She said.

"Do you want to…honorably…race?"

"Now that wouldn't be very fair. I'm just learning about him."

"It wasn't fair yesterday."

"Yeah, but Link, you could never cheat."

"Yeah, so?"

"You never could."

"OK, then let's just get used to him."

"Alright."

Link and Meghan both cantered around the field. When they had reached Gerudo Valley some time later, Link asked, "Are you used to him yet?"

"You're really eager to race me, aren't you?"

"Well, I've never raced anyone on Epona. I'd like to see how fast she is compared to other horses."

"Link, you KNOW she's the fastest horse, I'd bet the fastest in Hyrule. That's two things that make it unfair!"

"Yes…well…I'll still race you!"

"No! Oh fine."

"You change your mind too much."

"I don't care!"

"OK."

"We need a starting point. And a finishing point."

"Hm…how about…" he swung himself off Epona and pulled out his sword. He made a line on the floor. "This line." He grinned.

"OK…" She said and brought Galaxy to it. Link mounted Epona again and brought her to the line. "Link, before we start, I just wan to say we are the weirdest group of mixed genders and species that ever lived."

"I agree with that. Navi, can you be our…person?"

"Referee."

"Um…what would that be?" Navi asked shyly.

"Oh, it's like a judge, someone who…is sorta like the decider of who wins, and in this case, when to start, and stuff like that."

"OH." Link and Navi said at the same time.

"So you get it, Navi?" Meghan inquired.

"Yes."

"Good. So when we are ready, you say start. Nice and loud."

"OK." Came the shy little squeak.

"Ready Navi?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Go ahead."

"Um…st-start!" She said so quietly that Meghan and Link didn't know what she said yet. Then Link caught on and pushed Epona forward.

"HEY!" Meghan said, and Galaxy was now moving forward as well. It took him a bit to get up to speed, but soon Galaxy was going at a fast canter. After a few minutes of silent, hard riding, Meghan called to Link (Who was slightly ahead and to the side of her)

"LINK! WE NEVER SAID WHEN WE WERE GOING TO STOP!"

"Who said we were going to stop?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I could do this all day!"

"Eh…wouldn't your butt get numb?"

"No." He laughed. "What about you?"

"WHAT?"

"Hey, you just asked me the same question! Now you must answer!"

"Uh…maybe?" She laughed too. That was a really odd question she had asked, she had to admit. But then again…

…wasn't everything odd these days?

"So where are we going to stop?" She called.

"Uh…Kokiri Forest?" She made a face, even though he wasn't looking at her.

"Where? Like-"

"The first one past the Kaepora tree wins."

"What's the Kaepora tree?" He looked back at her.

"The name I have for the tree where Kaepora came, right there. You know, the one…do you get it?"

"Yeah, I think."

"Navi, dost thou get it?"

"Stop being a wannabe Great Deku Tree. You make me sad."

"I couldn't resist. Sorry. Do you get it Navi?"

"Yes, my little Kokiri."

"I am SO not a Kokiri."

"Yet you seem so attached to the forest. I think you're a Kokiri by heart."

"Maybe."

"I think so. Why would he have such a fantabulous fairy if wasn-"

"Go be a…whatever that thing was." Link said as he pushed Navi forward. He looked at Meghan, who smiled.

"Navi, go to the Kaepora Tree and wait. The first to cross wins. OK? Fly ahead!" Meghan shouted.

"Right!" Navi beamed and flew quickly ahead of them. Meghan felt so good, just riding like that. She felt like doing something dangerous…

"Link!"

"Yes?" He said.

"I'm GONNA beat YOU!" She said, changing Galaxy's canter into a gallop. "Galaxy and I will beat the SNOT out of you!"

"Snot…right."

"EVIL SNOT!" She said as she caught up to him. They were riding side by side now, with a foot or two in between them. "I'm going to win."

"Win two days in a row? That wouldn't be fair!"

"Life isn't fair. We've learned that the hard way."

"Yes. I'M STILL GOING TO WIN!"

"No, evil Mr. Hylian! I WILL WIN! Do not forget, I am the nt Supreme Ruler of the Wolfos!"

"We'll see about that." He said. "Epona is still not going as fast as she can."

"I'd be willing to bet Galaxy isn't either."

"We'll see about that. How much do you want to bet?"

"Galaxy."

"What?"

"Heh heh, if I win, you get Galaxy and I get Epona. If YOU win, I get Galaxy and you get Epona."

"What? What was that supposed to mean? I'm not giving you Epona!"

"And I'm not giving you Galaxy. SO you have to win if you want to keep your own horse. And you're not going to win."

"But that's bad for you if you win!"

"Yeah, that really made no sense."

"OK. Think of something else."

"I'M GOING TO HIJACK EPONA!"

"What? Where do you come up with these things?" Meghan was already standing on the stirrups, her butt lifted off the saddle. And this was not easy.

"Yes, haha!" Link looked at her.

"Hey, be careful! You're going to fall off at that speed."

"But this is fun!" Her hair was flying in her face and everywhere else. "You're right; I could do this all day!" She said as she sat her butt back down. They were about halfway there. They rode in silence about a quarter of the way, when Meghan said, "Link…we never said what we were going to win if we win!"

"We win Navi!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"OK! Don't tell her though! She's going to be MY fairy!"

"Don't count on it. Even if you do win, she won't obey YOU."

"Then what's the whole point?"

"I don't know."

"How about…" She thought for a while, while feeling the bounciness of Galaxy's galloping. "OH! OH! I know!"

"What?"

"NOTHING! WEEEEEEEEEE!"

"OK…"

"Yes! It's perfect!"

"Yeah."

"You seem disappointed."

"I just thought I'd be able to win something." Meghan turned her head towards him.

"You're not that greedy."

"Yeah. I am."

"No. You're not."

"Yes. I AM."

"Alright, Mr. Hylian. If you win, I'll give you my sanity." He looked like he was going to laugh. She realized the significance, or insignificance I should say, of what she said. "That's not much, I guess."

"Exactly what I was about to say."

"OK. What do you REALLY want if you win? What do you DEEPLY DESIRE that I can give you, of course." Meghan was getting tired of yelling towards him. It was hard to speak over the galloping.

Link thought about what he wanted. He wanted so much. But he could never ask anything of her, like that anyway.

"We'll worry about that when we find out who wins." They were almost there. Meghan could see sweat forming on Galaxy's neck. There was about ten more yards…nine…eight…Meghan pushed Galaxy as fast as he could go…yet Epona seemed to be faster no matter what she did.

"Come on, Galaxy, come on…not much farther now…come on…if you can just go a bit faster…please…" she begged Galaxy. He went all out, and Meghan was riding as hard as she could. Link and Epona always seemed to be better, though.

They were in the last few yards. Link and Epona went slightly ahead of Meghan and Galaxy.

The next thing she knew, Link had crossed the tree just before her. But because the area was so small, Galaxy couldn't fit side by side with Epona. He had to make a fast stop. Link quickly realized this and tried moved Epona so Galaxy could have room. They were so close to colliding Meghan squeezed her eyes shut and braced for what was to happen.

Galaxy's hooves slid on the floor as he tried to stop. Meghan opened her eyes and held on to the reins tight, knowing she couldn't do much. Epona whinnied and reared, as did Galaxy. Meghan opened her eyes as she couldn't hold on to Galaxy anymore. She slid off.

**_There is a line here:_****

* * *

**

The next thing Link knew, Meghan was laying the floor. He quickly dismounted.

He was not ready for what he saw next. Galaxy stepped backwards…right onto Meghan. He fainted.

When Link woke up, Galaxy was no where to be found. Epona was waiting patiently next to him. He blinked his eyes a few times, forgetting about Meghan for a second. Then he remembered. He stood quickly and looked where she was lying.

He gasped. "No." He said. He rushed to Meghan and looked to where she was. He knew it was bad from where he was, but when he leaned down to her, he nearly cried.

Her ribcage was completely crushed. He wasn't even sure if she was breathing. There was some on the grass around her. "No." He repeated. He put his hand on her chest. Completely broken. No breathing…no life.

"Meghan…" He said, tears springing to his eyes. "No. This didn't happen." He started panicking. "No. No way. This can't be right…" His breathing was fast, scared. So scared…

_Time is winding down…what's left of it, we have no more…_

_A broken feeling is inside my heart…_

_A feeling that I never want to part…_

_A fragile flower blooms in the uproar…_

_A delicate blossom is scattered in the wind…_

_And I try to forget it all…_

_I try to break my fall…_

_Time is malicious, uncaring and cruel._

_I see what you're doing, _

_Don't take me for a fool._

_A sad, sad reminder of our ent fate…_

_What is this, time?_

_Why do you lie?_

_Give me back this moment in time…_

The funeral was held the next day. In attendance was Zelda, Luke, all the sages, Malon, the Gerudogirls she had made friends with, their singer, and many other Hylians. The Kokiri wanted to come, but could not. Many Gorons attended, including Link and Gordley. Zoras, although she hadn't met them, came as well.

Dressed in a black tunic, Link stared at the grave. She was buried near the Royal Tomb in Kakariko. Most of the people had left from the funeral and were now at the castle, for that "reception" thing they have at funerals. (I don't know what it's called) The only ones left were the sages and Luke. They all stood back from the grave, letting Link mourn by himself. They talked quietly.

After some time, Zelda came over to Link. He was kneeling in front of the grave. She gently put her hand on his shoulder. He didn't look at her.

"Link," she said quietly. "I think it's time we went. What do you say?" He had been there for a while. Hours, just staring into the tombstone. "Link, there is nothing more to be done. You've been here for a while. Come, let's go and talk." He nodded after a few seconds and stood. "There, that's better." He took one look at her, then looked back at the grave.

"There is nothing more I can do." He said quietly. He walked to the other sages and Luke. Luke gave him a sympathetic look. Link looked into nothing.

"Luke, I need to talk to him alone for a few seconds." He nodded understandingly. "Sages, if you'll excuse us." She nodded towards them. They nodded as well. "Link, please, if you'll come with me." She touched him gently again on the shoulder, as though he wouldn't understand any other way. He nodded. "Good." She cast Farore's Wind and teleported.

Link found himself in the Temple of Time.

"Link, there wasn't much time left anyway."

"You want me to put it back, right?"

"Yes, Link."

"Not as though I had any other reason to wait." He said bluntly.

"Yes. I think it would be best for all of us if you did. For yourself, mostly. I think as a child, the…loss…will be less substantial."

"Of course, Zelda."

"Good bye, Link."

"Good bye." He turned swiftly and walked to the Pedestal of Time. Zelda felt her eyes water as Link walked farther and farther away. She quickly exited the temple, not wanting to watch.

Link pulled the Master Sword out of its sheath. Navi flew around his feet. He knew Zelda was going to do this. He had a dream two nights ago. One that foretold this. But he had refused to believe this would ever happen.

He replaced it in the pedestal and felt the familiar feeling of time…

Back in his child body, he didn't feel the same sadness. He didn't feel the same feelings.

_**He did know, though, she didn't have to wait…**_

…_**anymore.**_

**THE END

* * *

**

**There ya go. The end. Too bad it was just a joke, though. Yep, that's right,**

**_A JOKE! APRIL FOOLS!_**

**(Late. I know, but the login thing didn't work on April Fool's day!) (And I spent all afternoon typing the fake ending.)  
****That whole part (From where the line was) (The one I so obviously pointed out)is fake. Got ya, didn't I? Sorry it was so graphic and violent.  
****THE REAL next chappie is coming out soon! I just couldn't resist! ****Great joke, huh? (Crickets chirp) THESE STUPID CRICKETS FOLLOW ME EVERYWHERE! GO AWAY!  
****Erm, anyway…I wrote that poem in the fake ending! It's called Cruel Time. Yeah I was bored so I wrote a poem! It Stinks…  
And the dream he had, has nothing to do with my alternate ending. It was just a harmless dream that happened to fit in. Or was it? Hee hee.**

**Peoples:**

**Serenity: I'm still doing a sequel. Ignore my joke…(Sheepish smile) Thanks for the review! And…yes it was so sad I cried! You seriously forgot you told me that? Hmm…ah, I do that all the time! **

**Toonluver/Meowzi: O.o…right then. HI GUYS! I hope you had fun at your sleepover! Um…let's see…yeah cool review! BIG mass of words! I had fun reading it! Glad you like my chappie. Yet something floats in my mind. From past experience. Twogirls plus sleepover plus 3:54 equals VERY low attention span. Did you guys pay attention? Whatever! SLEEPOVERS ARE FUN!**

**Princess Kathleen: Glad you found it funny! I have trouble sticking to the CORRECT genre. (Points to "angst") Yes they measure everything. Are you EVER going to finish your sentence? Thanks for the review though!**

**Tiz-I mean Nagora- I mean WHOEVER YOU ARE: Yes. Sad. (Sniff sniff) Who ever said they were going to leave? (Then again, who said they were going to stay?) I SHALL KEEP YOU IN SUSPENSE! Thank you! **

**Oh, yeah everybody! This chapter my story passed the 200 page mark! WOOT! Oh yeah, and my friend and I have decided we have a disease called LAURD. If you want to know if you have the disease too, just tell me and I'll give you the test! (It stands for Link and Us Rock Disease!)  
OhYEAH! And I am an official FARORIAN! (On Zelda universe. com)**


	57. DAY FIVE: PART TWO: Like Royalty

**(AnimeDemon skips in with Nayorin) HI! And welcome to the big, mass review answering pool! I got you all with my joke! Weeeee, but don't feel bad. I would have fallen for it too!**

**So let me get this straight (Pulls clipboard and pen from nowhere) As a result, Meowzi wants to kill me, Princess Kathleen and Serenity think I'm evil, DrippingInk, Jade, and Tizami liked the joke, (I think?…) and Sakume and Emeralddestiny seem completely clueless… **

**Don't hurt me! (Jumps behind statue of Link made entirely from cheese doodles and food coloring) (Eats the sword)**

**Serenity: What is "Blasphamy?" Sorry I made you have tears, though. Um, thanks for the review! (Evil, evil, evil, I AM NOT EVIL! GANONDORK IS EVIL!) (OK, I am evil! :))**

**Meowzi: Uh, the kitties make him better…I have no idea why. But I guess Link has control over the animals, so…he can control SLY! MWEHEHEHE! Thanks for the review! Tell Toonluver she can be part of my posse! And you too! '**

**Tizami: YEAH! You can find out if you have it! Only thing is, do you have some way I can contact you? 'Cause it is LONG, the test, and it would be hard to put it here…do you have a username on ZU? (Zelda Universe?) Thanks for the review! **

**DrippingInk: YES! I SHALL KEEP UPDATING! Wee, it's fun to update! Aaww, thank you! THANK YOU THANK YOU:'D**

**Sakume: Thanks! But you do know it's not over, right?**

**Emerald: Do you mind if I call you Emerald? Um, thanks for the review! **

**Jade: YES YES! I CONTINUE! Thanks so much for your review! -**

One more thing…if anybody wants to see a picture I drew of Meghan and Link and Zelda at the beginning of the story,(Link stinks in it!) go to this address: (Without the spaces): **http/ww w.zeldauni verse. net/forums/** attachment.php? attachmentid 3532

Galaxy's hooves slid on the floor as he tried to stop. Meghan held on to the reins tight, knowing she couldn't do much. Epona whinnied and reared, as did Galaxy. Meghan opened her eyes, as she couldn't hold on to Galaxy anymore. She slid off. "Oomf…"

"Epona! Whoa! It's OK." She heard Link's voice and opened her eyes. She found herself leaning against the Kaepora Tree. She felt hot, moist air on her forehead.

"Ick…Galaxy?"

"No! Galaxy!" Link grabbed Galaxy's reins, while trying to keep Epona under control. "Meghan, are you alright? You fell pretty hard." He asked, his back to her while trying to keep two horses under control.

"Ow…yeah. I'm fine." She said as she got up. Her back hurt. "Stinky." She hurried over stiffly and got Galaxy.

"Are you sure?" He said, not letting go of him.

"Yeah. I just fell."

"And then lost consciousness."

"So what?" _How the heck did I lose consciousness from falling off a horse? I must've fainted or something._

"Meghan…"

"Yeah?" He sighed an annoyed sigh. "Are the horses OK?"

"Galaxy is, Epona is a bit tense though."

"Did they collide?"

"A little. Galaxy hit Epona in the nose when he came down from rearing. And then I realized you fell off, so I had to get off too. I took Galaxy and moved him away from you, and then Epona. And then I was going to move you but they started going crazy again, so I had no choice. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just leave you there."

"'Tsokay." She said. (This is my dialect. It's like slang for it's OK. If you say it fast, it sounds like tsokay. Yeah, just wanted to clear that up.)

"Are you sure you are all right?"

"My back hurts, but that's it." He looked at her worriedly.

"Meghan, that's not a little thing."

"What? It's not like it's broken. I can move. See?" She spun around in a circle. "I'm not broken."

"Hn." He said, like he was annoyed. "Fine." He handed Galaxy's reins to her. She took a look at Epona.

"Switch for a second." She said, jamming Galaxy's reins into his hands and taking Epona's from him. She put her hands on her neck and felt how tense she was. There was a small scrape on her nose. "It's OK, Epona." She began rubbing Epona in small circles with her fingers: T-touch. She could feel the tension melt away.

"What are you doing?" Link asked as Epona put her head on Meghan's shoulder.

"T-touch. She likes it."

"Interesting."

"Yes, I learned this back home. The horses love it. It's almost like…I don't know. It stands for therapy touch, so I guess it's like therapy!"

"That's…fascinating." Meghan felt Epona turn her head slightly to look at Link. Meghan moved her fingers over Epona's neck to her body. After a few minutes, she was done. She removed Epona's large head and turned to Link

"You should really take longer to do it, but since we're just going to go again, I didn't."

"Whoa, you have to teach me to do that."

"Of course I will! For once I can teach YOU to do something!"

"You teach me things like everyday."

"I know, I meant to DO something."

"Oh. Right…"

"Here, I'll show you. Stand like this…" She stood in front of Epona. "Do it on Galaxy."

"OK." He moved in front of galaxy.

"Put your hands like this." She put one hand on either side of Epona's neck.

"OK." He did too.

"Put your fingers like this."

"OK."

"And move in little circles." Link watched for a second, and then tried to copy her. "Right." She said to him. "Yay, you're a fast learner!"

"Uh, thanks I think." Since he was left handed, and the horses were side by side, Meghan could watch Link's hand as he moved it over Galaxy's neck. Galaxy's head drooped.

"He likes it." She said quietly. Epona turned her head towards Link. She stepped over to him and sniffed his head.

"Epona!"

"She's jealous!"

"Jealous?" He said.

"Switch horses again."

"OK…" The switched. Epona took complete advantage of the situation. Once Meghan started T-touching Galaxy, Epona nudged Link, clearly telling him to do it to her. "Alright! Alright!" He laughed. "You're spoiled." Meghan laughed. She went to Galaxy and started rubbing him. "Ick, you're so sweaty! I need something I can wipe him off with."

"Here." Link threw Meghan a cloth from his mini-saddle-baggy thing.

"Oh, thanks." She said, and wiped some of the sweat off of Galaxy's neck and body. "Good boy, Galaxy." After a few silent moments of tending to the horses, they decided to leave. Meghan moved to Galaxy's side and tried to mount. But when she sat, her tailbone hurt.

"OW!" She said, moving her right leg to the other side with the left. "Sh-"

"Are you OK?" Link asked as he got on Epona.

"My butt." She said.

"What?" He said.

"MY ASS HURTS!"

"Since when do you have an a--?"

"Since we all have one!"

"I don't."

"Yes…you…oh wait. You're thinking of a donkey, right?"

"Uh…I think."

"OK. Where I come from, an a-- is two things. A butt and a donkey. Wait, and there's another. An idiot beyond belief."

"So…"

"Yes, Link. But don't use it in that context. It is a curse word and I never curse…my butt just hurt really bad." (Yick, sorry for the bad word, guys. I couldn't resist explaining that to Link!) (Looks VERY ashamed)

"OK…would it be better if we walked?"

"Um, yeah if you don't mind. Either that or I need a big, fluffy pillow for my butt." He laughed.

"Sorry, I don't have any 'big, fluffy' pillows."

"That's OK. Walking is fine with me!"

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. I just can't sit."

"Alright."

"So where are we going now?"

"I was thinking Kakariko Village. There is a do there."

"OK." They started walking there, Meghan leading Galaxy by the reins, and Link leading Epona. "So…maybe we can see Zelda again later."

"Impa."

"What?"

"We're going to see Impa today!"

"Did you just figure that out?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Interesting."

"Yes, so what were you saying?"

"Never mind."

"What was it?"

"Never mind, it's not important."

"Are you sure?" She laughed.

"Yeah." They talked about some things until they reached Kakariko. Meghan Left Galaxy before the stairs. "Do you think he'll run away?"

"No, he'll probably stay."

"I wish he had a song like Epona. Hey Galaxy!" She walked up to his face. "Can you wait here for me? I'll come back later to bring you back home." Galaxy snorted. "Is that a yes?" Galaxy snorted again. Link nodded. "OK. See you later!" She ran up the stairs with Link.

"So what do you want to do first?" Link asked.

"Uh…what is there to do?"

"A lot. I guess we haven't REALLY come here. So OK, I'll point things out. Hm, over there is the bow game, and then there are…places. Just a lot. We can see as we go around." Meghan hadn't really been in Kakariko Village. She had only passed through it. And now she realized that this place was much bigger than she had ever thought.

"Let's do the bow thingy!"

"Alright." They ran over to the bow place. The guy inside was scary…and not to mention fat.

"You guys wanna play? Twenty rupees."

"Yes, please." Link said, taking out twenty rupees.

"Thank you. You know the rules?"

"Yes."

"Alright, go ahead."

"Do you want to go first, Meghan?"

"No! I want to watch you do it first."

"OK." He took out his bow, which Meghan just now realized he had. He took the arrows he got from the guy, and set up in front of the game.

"Ready?" The dude asked. Link nodded.

"GO!" A green rupee flew up in the middle. Link hit it before it went back down. It shattered. OK, so it wasn't a rupee. (Cheap moneysaving tactics…) Two red rupees came by on the top, and Link shot one, then the other in succession. Two blue rupees on the bottom came and he hit them both as well. Then two more came, first one (Hit) then the other (Hit). There was only the two red rupees and the green one left. Link cocked the arrow on the string, pulling it and waiting for one to come up. Then all of a sudden, all three came up at the same time.

"What?" He said in surprise. He grabbed another arrow and jammed it on the string with the other and shot the two red ones.

"WHOA!" Meghan said. Now that was awesome. Just one more. He grabbed another arrow quickly and shot the green rupee just as it went down.

"Heh, sorry 'bout that." The guy said. But he actually did it purposely. He was tired of Link coming in and winning each time. He didn't want him to win. He always gave him more rupees than he got paid!

"Oh wow! That was awesome!" Meghan said.

"Thank you."

"Here's your prize, mate."

"Shiny." Meghan said.

"Wait. Keep it. I'll buy three more games." He took out ten rupees and gave them to the dude. He was shocked, but whatever.

"Alright."

"Now, your turn!" Link said. Meghan cautiously took the bow…

She stood where Link stood before. She took the arrows…

"What do I do?"

"Shoot the rupees!"

"I'm scared."

"What? I taught you how to use the bow! Wait, you even beat Ganondorf with the bow! What are you talking about, 'I'm scared?'"

"First of all, I did NOT beat Ganondorf." She poked him. " We all remember who DID. And second of all, I DON'T REMEMBER!"

"You don't remember what? How to use the bow, or what you were going to say?"

"HAHA. Very funny."

"Are you guys ready?" The guy asked. Meghan shook.

"Relax. Yes, we're ready."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"MAKE UP YOUR BLOODY MINDS!"

"Uh…yeah, I'm ready. Help?"

"Alright, here you go." The dude said. Meghan put a arrow in the string and… "GO!"

"OH GODDESSES!" She said when the first thing came up. It was blue one on the side. She pulled the arrow back and released it. It missed.

"That's OK, hit the other one!" Link said. She didn't even realize the other one had come up.

"I'm trying…" She pulled it back and released again, missing. "YOU MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY!" He pointed to the red one coming by. She hit it! "YAY!" the other red one she missed. "BOO!" a green one came. She hit it. "YAY!" The other green one. "BOO!" The two blue ones. She hit the first one…but the second…"YES!" And now the second set of reds…"YAY! Boo."

"You got five out of ten." The guy said.

"Do you want to try again?"

"OK." She got ready. She hit three reds, two blues, and one green. "Six out of ten. Yay." She said sarcastically.

"That's pretty good! I remember as a kid, I couldn't get that many with the slingshot…"

"SLINGSHOT!" She yelled.

"Yes, the slingshot." He said slowly.

"WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT?"

"I don't know, why?"

"GIMMEE THE SLINGSHOT!"

"I don't have it!"

"Liar!"

"I don't!"

"Are you guys going to go or not?"

"Link, it's your turn."

"Are you sure you don't want to go again?"

"Yes. Positive. GO."

"OK…" He took the bow and hit all the rupees. What a SURPRISE.

"GREAT JOB!"

"Thanks."

"Grumble, here's your prize. Grumble grumble."

"I can't carry this many rupees. Here, I don't want it." He gave it back to the dude. "Thank you, good bye. Come on Meghan; let's do something else. Maybe we'll come back later."

"'K" The guy stared at them as they left.

"He didn't TAKE it?"

"So what are we going to do?" Meghan asked as she skipped next to Link.

"Let's see."

"SHOPPING! I HATE SHOPPING! BLECH!" she said as if he had suggested it.

"OK, I never said that."

"No, I just remembered because of the potion shop."

"So…you really hate it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason." He looked innocent.

"What the heck are you thinking?"

"Your birthday is soon. What do you want?"

"Link, I'm not going to be here." She stopped walking.

"Well, whoever said that?" He continued walking.

"No one, but it's pretty obvious."

"No it's not." He said, finally stopping a few feet away from her.

"Why are you so optimistic?" she said dramatically.

"It was forced upon me." He said, smiling. "Besides, we'll just celebrate your birthday tomorrow."

"I don't want a stinky birthday party, or celebration or anything. I stopped have parties when I was thirteen. I didn't even want a thirteenth birthday party. I'm not going to have one for sixteen."

"Oh, but…"

"NO. N. O. NO!"

"Fine. I give up. No party. But you need a gift!"

"No."

"Yes. Come on. Please?" He made a puppy dog face. Whoever knew he could? She gave in.

"Whatever."

"Yes! Come on!" He grabbed her hand and brought her to…the freaky bazaar. That guy freaked her out…

When they entered, Link said, "Have you been in here before?"

"Uh…n-no…" She said. The freaky shopkeeper was looking at her. She looked away. This place was HUGE! "Wow, it's certainly different than in the game." It was much longer, more like a REAL bazaar she had seen a few times in Turkey. (Psst- she's Turkish!) It was long, and it looked like it went underground or something. "This is scary."

"Don't be scared! Just a bunch of harmless merchants."

"But it's dark!"

"No it's not! It's just dim."

"You're dim! I don't wanna go in!" She gasped. "I mean, I don't want anything."

"Oh, come on!"

"No…Mr. Courage! I don't wanna!"

"Don't make me drag you in."

"You can't!"

"No, but I can carry you."

"NO! I'm going!" She ran. Link laughed and followed her. That definitely got her.

They passed many little booth things, each with things to buy. One shop specialized in weapons. (Gee, sound familiar?) Another in clothing, (More familiarity to come…) and another in jewelry, another with…things, another with purses and such, and another with more…things.

They stopped at a nice little one with accessories…

"Do you want something here?" Link asked hopefully.

"No." She said brusquely.

"Goddesses, don't you want anything?"

"No. I am just window shopping."

"But there's no window!"

"Ex. Pre. Ssion."

"Oh. Right then. Are you sure?"

"Yep." She looked at some necklaces. To tell the truth, she really liked some of them, but she couldn't ask for them. She saw one that she loved immediately. It had a silver chain, and a silver pendant. The pendant was a treble clef, and it had diamonds (She didn't know if they were real or not) along it. She almost touched it, when Link said,

"Do you like it?"

"No! I d-"

"This necklace it made of real silver, and genuine diamonds." The vendor lady said in Hylian.

"Hm, uh, what did she say?"

"Do you want me to speak Terminian?" She said in Hylian. Bad for Meghan, good for Link.

"Don't tell her you can." He said. Meghan looked.

"OK, I recognized 'her' in there and 'you' and…that's it."

"That's because she doesn't speak Hylian, and I was clarifying that she couldn't."

"OK…"

"OK. I'll translate, right?"

"Uh…"

"Would you like to know how much it is?" The lady asked.

"What did she say?"

"It is made of real silver and real diamonds." He said in English "Yes, I would." He said in Hylian.

"What did you say?"

"I said 'is that true?'"

"It is eighty-nine rupees."

"Uh…" Meghan said.

"She said it was hand crafted." He said in English.

"Ha ha, good guess. It actually was, young man."

"Well, that's good." Link said in Hylian.

"Are you going to buy it?" The lady asked.

"No, she doesn't want it. Maybe another time." He said in Hylian.

"Alright, well it'll be here if you change your mind."

"Thank you anyway."

"SEE! I understood that! You said thank you!"

"Yes, I did. Ready to go?"

"What did she say?"

"She said-"

"I said have a nice day." The lady said.

"You speak…"

"Yes, I do." Link smiled.

"What? You made me…WHAT? What did you REALLY say?" She cried out in frustration.

"Thank you." Link said as he guided a fuming Meghan away from the shop.

"Ugh! Why'd you do that! You knew she could!"

"Hm…I felt like it. I don't speak Hylian too much anymore, so it was fun."

"Stop complaining. You're the one who neglects to teach me anymore than HI! And BYE! And THANK YOU!"

"But it's FUN knowing a language you don't."

"Evil, have you forgotten that I know a language you don't too?"

"Yes, but no one else talks that around here."

"Parles-vous francais!" she said angrily.

"Uh, what?"

"I'm not telling!" In reality, she only said "can you speak French?" but he didn't know. He thought she said something more important. Plus, he could be doing the same thing to her, right?

They walked around for a while more, stopping to admire, and "window shop." Link repeatedly asked her if she wanted anything for her birthday, but she said NO! each time.

After a while, they decided to leave (Not as though they were going to buy anything, with Meggy's attitude…)

"Whoa! The light!" She shielded her eyes dramatically. Link rolled his eyes.

"Come on, it wasn't that dark. Even after going in the Shadow Temple, Ganon's Tower…Spirit Temple, I thought you wouldn't be afraid of a simple shop-"

"ShopS." She put an accent on the "s."

"Yeah, whatever." Suddenly they heard a sound behind them. They swiftly turned around.

"It's IMPA!" Meghan exclaimed. "HI!"

"Hello." She said.

"Hi, Impa." Link said. Impa was taller than Link. Meghan found this odd, but she didn't care that much.

"Hello, Link. I come with news from Princess Zelda. She invites you two, and I to dine with her."

"Uh…OK?" She said, glancing at Link.

"That would be a yes." He clarified.

"Good. Now, kindly see to it that you are at the castle in one hour. Have a good day." She stepped back, and as Meghan blinked, disappeared.

"Well, that was the shortest visit with a sage we had."

"We'll see her later."

"Why did she leave so suddenly?"

"Hmm…"

"Exactly. So, we're gonna see Zellie? I like calling her Zellie. Hm, Zellie, Zellie, Zellie…"

"Yes. We are going to see 'Zellie.' Are you happy?"

"Yep!" She smiled innocently. Link sighed. "I think we should go to the castle. By the time we are there, and stuff, it'll be almost time to see Zelda. Boy, Impa didn't give us too much info, now did she? I sure wish she had because I wish I knew WHERE we were going to meet Zelda or something and if we even are going to meet her or if we are going to go to her or something like that. She sure left us there and didn't give us all the info we-"

"OK! I get it, I do! Really, point taken." Meghan had been talking really fast, just to annoy him.

"Alright, shall we leave?"

"Sure." They went to their horses they left near the stairs. Galaxy was there, grazing, and Epona was a bit farther away, also eating. Meghan took Galaxy by the reins, forced him away from his food, and walked him to the bridge, with Link following with Epona. "Let's bring him back first."

"Right." She didn't want to, be she had to. He wasn't her horse…

"You're sad, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'll visit him again."

"Of course. We can tomorrow, if you want."

"Yes." She said, feeling a lump in her throat. "Galaxy, you're a really neat horse, you know that, right?" Galaxy snorted. When they reached the ranch, Meghan handed Galaxy to Malon.

"Did you have fun?" She asked, smiling.

"Yeah! Thanks so much, Malon." She said, helping Malon remove Galaxy's tack.

"Anytime." She said, smiling a LARGE smile that made Meghan want to smile too. And she did. Meghan gave Galaxy a last rub, before leaving. Link left Epona at the ranch too.

"Bye Malon! They said in unison, waving. They exited the ranch and left to the castle.

"Darn, Link. I hope that IDIOT Shina doesn't come."

"I'm sure he won't."

"I hope not." They were entering the castle yard now. "No sight of him…" She said. "Come on, let's hurry. Only, I have no idea where we're going."

"Your idea must be better than mine."

"Possibly. This place is like a labyrinth. The only thing I have to steer me around is my intuition…and it says 'WHERE THE HECK DO WE GO?'" Link laughed.

"Precisely."

"OK, OK, um…I KNOW we have to go in the castle."

"Good guess." She ignored him.

"And I remember the first turn to my room! But I don't remember anything else, and I have no idea where the throne room, or where Zelda is or anything! AH!"

"It's OK. We'll find them." They walked across the garden into the castle. "Maybe if we find your room…"

"Yeah, but I have no idea where that is!"

"Do you guys need help?" A familiar voice said. Just guess who it is. Go ahead, guess! No really, guess! OK, I'll tell ya:

"HI HI Luke!"

"Hi there, Meghan! And I take it you," he nodded to Link, "are the Hero of Time?"

"THAT'S HIM ALRIGHT!" Meghan said before he could respond.

"Splendid! Can I have your autograph?" Luke asked. Link looked.

"…Uh…"

"No, just kidding. Well, since you guys are here, I may as well tell you!"

"What?" Meghan asked eagerly. Luke took in a deep breath.

"Not so fast." Zelda said. Meghan looked behind Luke. Zelda was standing there with a big grin on her face. She grabbed Luke by the ear. "I want to tell as well."

"Hi, Zelda!"

"Hi, you two. Luke is being a bad boy today."

"Not entirely true, my princess!" She squeezed his ear. "Ow…" He recoiled and Zelda's grin grew, though she still didn't let go. "No really, I haven't!"

"And what have you done, of notable stature, today?"

"I helped Meghan out of the castle today! And she was in a hurry, so it was a good thing, too."

"A good thing, yes. Yes, all right. You are free to go." She let go. He rubbed his ear playfully. "So, Luke didn't spill anything to you, did he?"

"No…" Meghan said. Link seemed…oh, he just seemed like a…blond.

"Well, that's good. I didn't want him to."

"Yeah, Link, Miss Zelda…ow…wanted me to show something, I don't know why but…ow…it would be best for my ear if you came along…"

"Luke, I think you LIKE getting hurt." Zelda teased.

"No! Link…" He nodded. Luke turned around and Link followed him.

"What is it Zelda?" Meghan asked as Zelda sighed.

"Oh, nothing! Come on, I must tell you something. First, as you already know, I am inviting you to dine with Luke, Impa and I. Secondly; I think you guys should get to know Luke, which is why I sent him off with Link. He's going to help with some things. And…I wanted to spend some time with you too."

"Uh, why would anybody want to spend time with me?"

"Oh, silly. We are forever indebted to you!" Meghan slapped her hand to her forehead.

"ZELDA! FOR THE LAST TIME-"

"Shush, shush! Let's just go with it."

"But-"

"Oh, come on! Let's just pretend." Meghan gave her an odd look.

"OK." It was only now that Meghan realized what Zelda was wearing. She had on a beautiful shirt that looked like a dress, but on the bottom, she had on pants, similar to the ones she had made for Meghan. She also had no gloves on. This was the first time she had seen any of the Triforce carriers without some sort of covering on their hands. Maybe they did that purposely? She could just make out a triangle, very, very faintly, outlined on her hand.

"I like your pants."

"Oh thank you!' Zelda said, looking down at herself. "I just loved the ones made for you, and asked for a pair for myself. The seamstresses wish I wouldn't wear such boyish clothes, but you know me. I loved them! So I asked for many more! Yes, I love them. Thank you for showing me this style, Meghan."

"How did you even know what I liked when you had them made?"

"Oh, I have my ways." Zelda winked. "But just as you and I are enjoying them, I'm afraid we'll have to change."

"Why?"

"Well, we can't go to a formal meal like this, now can we?"

"Um…we can't?" Meghan liked her white pants. She didn't want to take them off.

"No, we must change into something more approved by the court."

"That would be…?" Meghan asked, hoping she didn't have to wear a dress. Oh, how she hated dresses and skirts, except for this one she had at home. That was the only one she didn't hate.

"Well, something a little less…boyish."

"Skirts, right? Dresses…"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Sorry."

"That's OK. Only I don't have a skirt."

"Don't worry, some clothes were made still while you were gone. I hope you like the ones I asked them to make."

"I'm sure I will." She said, although she didn't mean it.

"Alright, then, let's retrieve them from your room." Once again, Zelda led her through the extensive hallways. She once again tried to remember where she was going, but she was distracted because Zelda started talking to her. She passed a statue that stood out, though. She had no idea what it was of, though. "Oh, a few more things. First, I put a lock on the door to your room. It is a magic lock that will only let in someone with good intentions. So, nobody can come in and wake you if you want to sleep, and no one could harm you."

Meghan found this so odd that Zelda was all thankful towards her that she had helped defeat the "powerful, evil Ganondorf," but she still had to be protected in her own castle. _Whatever_ was her thought. Zelda opened the door.

"Oh, yes. And the lock only works when you are in the room. Otherwise, it will open to the maids, me, and of course yourself."

"What about Link?" she asked without even realizing it. Then she realized.

"Well, do you want me to make it so it does that?"

"Uh…"

"I can, if you want."

"Sure, I guess."

"Yes, I didn't even think of that. Luke I thought about, but…no." Zelda held out her hand, said something, closed her eyes, then opened them and lowered her hand.

"Thank you goddesses for that." Zelda smiled. Meghan was shocked when she went in the room. All her clothes and pajamas she had thrown on the floor this morning were not there. All the things she had used this morning were put back in place. It looked like it did when she first came here. (Which wasn't too much different than this morning when she left)

Zelda went into her room. Meghan followed. The bed, with all sixty million coverings and stuff, was made.

"Ooh. Room service." She laughed and sat on the bed while Zelda opened the wardrobe. It looked like a lot more clothes than yesterday, or even this morning. Zelda looked on the right side of it. There, Meghan saw skirts. And more skirts. And fancy shirts. And dresses. Great.

"Well now, what color would you like to wear?" Zelda asked.

"Um…" She strained to see what choices she had. There was blue…ick…yellow…ick…red…maybe…white…not in the mood…purple…no way…green…maybe…dark green…pretty….

…

Would she do it?

Risk her sort of Gothic-ness?

"Um…well, I like the greens and the red. I don't know. Um…"

"Would you like suggestions?"

"Um, sure."

"I think the red one and the dark green one are beautiful. But, let's see which one looks better on you. Hmm…this is the shirt that goes with this skirt, and this goes with this one. There." She pulled two outfits out of the wardrobe. Meghan suddenly chickened out.

"I like the red one." Red was better than green. Right? _Why do I have to wear a skirt?_

"Yes, so do I. Here, try it on. And I shall be waiting." Zelda handed the skirt and matching shirt to Meghan. "Other accessories are in these drawers." She opened some to reveal tights and such. "And while you change, I will fetch my ladies-in-waiting to finish helping you get dressed. Are you all right by yourself?"

"Of course."

"I mean with putting it on."

"Yes! I can put it on by myself. Thanks. And why do you need your ladies in waiting?"

"Like I said, so they can finish getting you dressed. You know, hair and makeup." Ew! Makeup! And, as we all know, Meghan had a BAD experience with brainwashing…a "makeover," and stuff with evil Gerudos…

"Can I just get dressed by myself?"

"I suppose, but it would be easier for you if someone else did it, wouldn't it?"

"Um, I don't think so."

"What if I did it?"

"But Zelda…that's absurd! You're a princess! You can not and will not and MAY not!"

"But what if I want to?" Zelda gave her a pleading look. Meghan sighed and responded with a shrug.

"Fine." She said unhappily, because she didn't want Zelda to have to.

"OK, I will see you." She exited the bedroom excitedly, closing the door behind her. Meghan looked at the closed door for a second, shook her head, and then looked at the clothes in her hands.

She laid them on the bed.

"_Uck_…" she whispered. It was a darkish red color, sorta… There were two layers on it. The inner one was a sort of transparent, but the outer one wasn't. It opened in the front a little to reveal the semi-transparent material. "What the heck kind of dress is this?" She removed her backpack and sword, and put it on. It fit perfectly and came down a little past her knees.

She went to the drawer and opened it. She pulled out a pair of "tights" or something (Whatever they are called!) She put them and the shirt on.

The shirt was long sleeved. The top went straight across from just below her shoulder on her arm, a bit below her collarbone, and to the other side (You know what I'm talking about, right? I don't know what that "style" is called.) The shirt fit tight. Ugh! She wanted to not wear it so bad. She shuddered.

The end of the sleeve flared out a bit, however the rest of the sleeve was tight. It had sparkly sort of designs on the front. The shirt slightly overlapped the skirt, making it seem like one dress. When she moved, it flowed behind her. When she finally decided to look in the mirror, however, her opinion on the skirt changed. It was truly a beautiful outfit. She still didn't like wearing it, though.

She went back to her wardrobe thing. On the bottom she remembered seeing shoes…

It had been a while since she had worn any other shoes, other than the sneakers she had worn since forever. Since she came here.

_Hm, let's see._ She found two pairs of boots, two pairs of dress shoes, and some other shoes, which she didn't pay attention to.

"WEE! Yes, something in this outfit makes sense to me!" She took out one pair of boots. They were black. She pulled them on. YES! They came up and ended about where the skirt ended. She liked them. They reminded her of some boots she back home, only those ones were shorter. Her mom never let her get big, bad boots, as she called them. These ones rocked! And they gave a "Meghan" look to this dreadful outfit. She reminded herself of Amy Lee. (In concerts, the lead singer of Evanescence (Amy Lee) wears dresses a lot but she wears these awesome boots in this one concert. (Anywhere But Home))

"Awesome." She said as she did the fastener things on the boots. She jumped up when she was done and went to the door. Zelda was sitting on one of the chairs in her room, pulling on a glove onto her left hand. She was dressed in a dress now, a purple one. She looked up at Meghan and smiled again.

"Wow! Very, very striking! Oh, you look so lovely!" Meghan could scream.

"Zelda, please."

"I love the…oh wow! It looks wonderful with those shoes! You look like a wonderful Meghan!"

"Thank you." She said, looking down and pulling on the skirt. "Now I think I'm too dressed up."

"Oh, no! You are perfect! Believe me. Ooh, now you must do your hair! I mean, I will do it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes! Yes, I am sure!" Zelda seemed a bit too excited. _Oh, well. At least it's not a bunch of evil Gerudo girls!_

"OK."

"Alright!" Zelda made her sit down. She took a brush, and lots of hairpins, and hair ties.

"Um, what are you going to do?"

"I was thinking in a cute little bun!"

"OK…" Zelda pulled all her hair back. She tied it up high on her head, except some pieces on the side. She braided it where it was, then twisted it up and pinned it. She took the remaining part and left it on the side of her head. It came down about to Meghan's collarbone, and partly covered her left eye.

"There. Look at yourself in the mirror." Meghan went to a mirror in the sitting room. She looked at herself. She pushed the piece of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you, Zelda."

"What for?"

"For everything! Thank you for all these clothes, this room, this HAIRDO."

"You are welcome. Now, come back here so I can put some makeup on you." Meghan turned around and asked,

"You wouldn't happen to have any black eye liner, would you?"

"Um, I don't think so."

"Any black makeup?"

"Yes, the makeup for the eyes, but I don't know if it's eye liner."

"Can I see?"

"Sure." Zelda gave her the makeup she had. There was eye shadow, blush, lipstick, etc…and black stuff!

"I need…make applying thing!"

"They should be there." Zelda stood up. Meghan found them.

"Oh, OK." She took the black stuff out and went to a mirror.

"Hey! I want to do it!"

"You WANT to?"

"Yes, I never get to do anything fun anymore!" Meghan didn't know that seventeen-year-olds liked to put makeup on people... _I guess her younger years were wasted, and then preteen and younger teenage year were spent in hiding. Poor Zellie. _

"'K." She sat back down. Zelda told her to close her eyes. She did, and Zelda applied the makeup. Meghan still didn't know why she was doing it for her, but she went along with it.

When Zelda was, at last, done, Meghan opened her eyes and skipped to the mirror again. She looked at the person. That person.

One who would not wear any colors.

One who would not wear dresses.

One who would not wear any makeup.

One who did not have many friends.

And yet, in the last half hour, she defied her old habits and life. This could not be a human Meghan. No, it could not.

Inside, she felt Hylian.

Sure, she didn't look the same, but she belonged here.

_Thank you, Link. Thank you, Zelda._

"Are you ready to go? We are supposed to dine at 18:30; I see it is 18:16. We will have just enough time to get there." Suddenly Meghan remembered something.

"Wait, just a second please?" She ran into the bedroom and took her pants and shook them out. "Oh no." She looked around the floor. She turned a few times, and then saw it. A glint of red, a sheath… "Gotcha." She said, picking the small knife off the ground. "Silly little thing." She put the knife in her skirt as she walked out.

"Ready now?"

"Yep." They walked out. The first thing Meghan noticed was how annoying the skirt was. In her shadow, she could see it flopping one way and another. But as long as she didn't look at herself, she could keep her mind off of it.

They were going to the dining room, Zelda told her. Meghan had never been there and had no idea where it was.

When they reached it, they found Link and Luke already there. They were talking as if they had been friends forever. They were standing near the door. When Zelda and Meghan walked in, Luke bowed and Link looked confused. Luke quickly straightened with a huge grin on his face. Zelda gave him a glare.

"Luke, please."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Luke."

"Zelda."

"Luke..."

"Zelda!"

"LINK!" Meghan said. Link looked at her, and then realized what she was wearing. He unconsciously ran his eyes over her body and blushed. She also noticed what he was wearing. It was a tunic. But not just any old tunic. This one was a light blue that matched his eyes perfectly. She knew it wasn't the Zora tunic, and this one was new looking. Not that he didn't look new all the time…

Link was the first to speak. "Um, I thought you didn't wear those colors and skirts."

"No…since when did you wear that color?"

"Since…today. When did you start wearing red?"

"Today as well."

"Oh. Well, it looks nice."

"Thanks, you too."

"Thanks…" It was then when Meghan realized that Impa was here.

"Hi Impa, again!"

"Hello, Meghan." She said, following Zelda into the room.

"Hello, Impa. Wonderful to see you again today!"

"Yes, Zelda. Same here." Zelda walked to the end of the table. A waiter dude pulled the chair out for her to sit. She thanked him and sat. Luke followed; sitting on her right side, while Meghan and Link took spots on her left. Impa went and leaned against the wall.

"Impa! This will not do! Never again will you do that! And that is the ONLY order I will ever give you! You are to sit with the rest of us! Please, don't do that again!" Zelda had, by this time, jumped up and brought Impa to a seat next to Luke. Impa looked shocked as a waiter pulled the chair for her, and pushed it in as she sat. Impa was used to standing on the side while Zelda ate. She was not allowed to dine with the royal family, yet had to protect Zelda and stayed in the same room.

"Hi Impa!" Meghan whispered loudly, from her position directly across from her.

"Hello..." she said.

"Alright, then! Please, if you would…" Zelda asked a waiter.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Please! Call me Zelda."

"Yes, You- I mean, Princess Zelda."

"Zelda."

"Yes, Zelda." He said, and walked out a side door into a room that was apparently the kitchen. A few seconds later, the waiters arrived with a flourish, carrying appetizers. Meghan knew she would never eat the amount of food they would probably give her!

They set those silver plate things with the tops down in front of Impa, Meghan, Luke, Link, and Zelda. There were five servers, and each of them pulled off the top at the same time to reveal some yummy looking soup like stuff. When the waiters walked away, Meghan stared down into it. It was an off white color, with little chunks of something floating in it.

"It is Cream of Milk soup." Zelda stated, seeing the look on Meghan's face. "It is very good."

"What are the little chunky things floating around?"

"Rice."

"You guys have rice here?"

"Yes."

"Awesome!" She picked up the spoon and put some in it. She opened her mouth, and put it in. She expected something salty, but actually, it was sweet. She swallowed it. "This is really good! I love it!"

"If you think that is good, just wait until later."

"Dessert?"

"Yes."

"YAY!" She saw Link pick up his spoon and try some. Wait, spoon, in hand.

Hand…

Hand…

WHAT?

"NO GAUNTLETS?" She said suddenly, scaring him and everyone else.

"Uh…"

"I'm going to tackle you again."

"Not with that on." He said, turning towards her and pointing an un-gauntleted hand at her skirt.

"Err…" she grumbled, smoothing the skirt out and returning to her soup/appetizer. As she put some in her mouth, she looked at Link's left hand next to hers. Sure enough, there was a Triforce outlined lightly on his hand. She put her spoon down and reached out and poked him. He put his down too.

"_Link_," she whispered, "_You have a Triforce on your hand._"

"Yeah, I know that."

"I never knew it was there."

"It only shows up like that when another carrier is within the vicinity." Zelda said. "When all three are around, it will glow even brighter."

"Cool." So that was why she noticed it when Zelda didn't have her gloves on. Link wasn't that far away at that time.

She finished her soup stuff. Impa was being very quiet, she noticed, and didn't eat much. Link, Luke, and Zelda talked, and although she tried to listen, she couldn't because she was worried about Impa. She was all alone, and she knew what it was like to be left out of a group.

"Impa, are you all right?" She looked up at her.

"Yes, Meghan." She put her spoon down. Zelda stopped talking to the two boys for a second.

"Impa?"

"Yes, Zelda?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, Zelda." She gave her a look that told Zelda to drop it. Zelda nodded, unconvinced, and returned to her conversation with not quite so much energy.

"Thank you, Meghan." Impa said quietly.

"What for?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thanks." By then, the waiters had come and took their plates from them. Meghan thanked the dude as he did. More waiters came and put a second course in front of them. They took their tops off.

"Oh, wonderful!" Zelda, dare I say, SQUEALED.

"What's this?" Luke and Link smiled too. Impa even seemed to show something.

"Only the best." Luke said.

"Yes, a delicious food."

"What is it?" Meghan asked.

"Wonderfully delicious." Impa said, to tease her.

"But what is it?"

"It is delectable and mouthwatering!" Luke said

"It's appetizing and filling!" Link said.

"It's-"

"OK! I get it! I just want to know WHAT it is made of!"

"Oh, right." Zelda said.

"So?"

"It is…"

"Yes?"

"Zelda, just say it!" Luke said.

"It's a completely vegetarian meal, made of the finest vegetables."

"OK." Meghan had to try it. She did. It was delicious alright! It had a wonderful, salty yet perfect taste to it. She loved it! And the others seemed to be enjoying as well. She wanted to finish the whole thing, but she knew she wouldn't be able to eat further courses if she did.

The next course was something similar to it, but she didn't like it as much. The last course, they had dessert.

It was some sort of mini-cake things, still hot from the oven. Each person had one.

"Yummy!" It tasted like a cheesecake! And it was probably very similar.

She didn't want to even think about how many calories she had just eaten…

As she finished off the cake thing, mostly, the others finished as well. When they were all done, Zelda breathed out and said, "Shall we retire to the sitting room?" She looked at the four faces around the room. Link and Luke shrugged, and Meghan nodded. "Good. Come along." A waiter pulled out her chair for her. She thanked him. A person did the same for Impa. Link and Luke stood, and just as Meghan was too, Link pulled the chair for her.

"Thanks." She said, awkwardly standing.

"This way, please." She said, leading the way to…her room? She brought them to her room and let them inside. Before they went inside, Meghan pointed to her door.

"Link, that's my room."

"OK." He said, looking at it and their surroundings before entering Zelda's "crib."

"Please, have a seat." Zelda gestured to the chairs and couches. Luke found a chair to sit on, and Zelda sat in one too. Meghan and Link sat on a couch. Impa stood and leaned against a wall. "Impa?"

"I do not feel like sitting. Sorry, Zelda."

"Oh, alright." She said. Impa closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall. Meghan sat back in the chair, not at all acting like she had a skirt on. Zelda, however, sat up straight. Meghan put her hands behind her head, and said,

"So, what's up everyone? Or down?"

"Nothing." Link said.

"Um, I think the sky is up, and the floor is down, was that a trick question?" He quickly said the last part as Meghan began laughing. But, in reality, he meant what he said. He didn't know she meant "How are you" or something like that.

"Sorry, it's only funny because where I come from, what you said would be a comic answer to the question. I really meant HOW ARE YOU?"

"OH." He said. "Well, I'm just fine, how are you?"

"Good."

"Hey Luke!" She said.

"Yes?"

"Luke is clueless!"

"What?"

"You are naive."

"I'm not naïve."

"Yeah, you are."

"No."

"Yes!" She jumped up from her spot, once again surprising everyone.

"No!" He said, and to everyone's surprise as well, jumped up.

"Well, you can't catch me!" She said, walking up to him.

"I can."

"Then come." She said, walking backwards. Link looked on. _What is she doing?_ She had a devious grin on her face. The hair falling in her face, and her hair in a bun accented it. Luke looked at her, and then sighed in defeat. He sat back down. "I knew you were a cucoo." (Meep! How do you spell cucoo?)

"Am not!"

"Are too!" Meghan sat back down. "Cocoos are chickens."

"Uh…"

"Don't ask."

"I assume that it is something from your world?"

"Yeah."

"What exactly is it?" Link took a deep breath and braced himself for a long explanation. However,

"It's a cucoo."

"Oh." Luke said, now conversant.

"So…"

Meghan started conversing about various things, and Zelda, Impa, and Luke and Link joined in. They talked of many things, Hylian economy, advice for Zelda, and even later in the conversation, Luke and Link somehow started talking about sword fighting strategies. While they did this, because Zelda, Impa, and Meghan were not that interested, the girls started a conversation of their own.

"Hey Zelda, how old is Luke?" Meghan whispered.

"He's twenty."

"Ooh! Zelda!"

"What?"

"Twenty? That's like four years older than me!"

"And many years younger than I." Impa said. "He is acceptable, Pri-I mean Zelda."

"IMPA!" Zelda let out an airy cry. "Please, that is…"

"Zelda, I must approve. And I do."

"But…"

"Hey Zelda, at least she DID approve, right?" Meghan said.

"Yes, yes. Silly me! Thank you Impa."

"You're welcome, Zelda."

"So, Zelda…"

ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER…

"That's so STUPID Luke!" Meghan cried. "Why did you ever do that?"

"I had no choice." He said, starting to blush. "Oh, well."

"Oh my! Time flies." Link looked at Zelda. "The clock…"

"It's 22:00!"

"Whoa…" Meghan said.

"Well, I should get going. My mom's waiting for me!" Luke said.

"Luke's mother is dependant on Luke. So we must send Luke on his way." Meghan and Link nodded understandingly. Luke stood up and Link did too. Link and Luke (The LK's!) stood and…pat each other on the back or something…

"Bye, Link. Bye, Meghan. Bye, Zelda…" He said the Zelda part especially slow. He walked to Zelda, picked up her hand in his own, and gently kissed it. "Good night, Impa." He walked out of Zelda's door, gently closing it behind himself. Zelda looked after him, bringing the hand he kissed to her heart.

"_Luke_…" She whispered. "His mother is very ill. She is better than she was, but still, he needs to take care of her. I hope she will be all right."

"That's so sad. I'm sure she'll be OK, though."

"I hope. She doesn't want me to help… Do I annoy? Do I show off? Sometimes I think people don't like that I try to help them…"

"Zelda, that's not true! People love it! I loved it, at least. You helped me, and you didn't annoy me AT ALL. Never think such a thing."

"Yes, Zelda. Don't. You'll be a fine princess." Impa said.

"Yeah, Zelda. You have us to help you." Link added. Meghan silently thought, _why does everyone seem to forget? Sometimes I think I'm the only one who remembers._

"Thank you, Meghan and Link, and of course you, Impa." The three nodded. After a few seconds, Link said,

"I think I should go, too."

"No, Link!" Meghan cried. "Don't!"

"I have to. And you should sleep." he told Meghan.

"But I don't want to! I sometimes stayed up until like two the next day at home!"

"Yeah, but at home, you didn't have an injury."

"Since when do I have an injury?"

"Since it's time to go to bed." Zelda said.

"What? You too? IMPA?" She turned to face Impa. For the first time since she saw her today, Impa smiled.

"I'm with the little one."

"Me, right? You're with me?"

"Yes."

"YES! In YOUR faces, Zelda! Link! SEE! The NANNY and Sage of Shadows says I can stay UP! Even when it is dark! And she's the Sage of SHADOWS! She can be the shadows and the shadows will tell me I can stay up!"

"No." Link said.

"No." Zelda said.

"We must listen to the Princess and the Hero of Time. They are the highest-ranking individuals in Hyrule." Meghan hadn't even thought of that! Link was equal to Zellie, because he had a Triforce!

"FINE! Link, I just want to show you something!"

"OK."

"I think I'm going to sleep." Zelda said as she yawned.

"No offense, but you Hylians go to bed early."

"Bed? I never go to bed!"

"You never had TIME to go to bed!"

"I can live without sleep!"

"OK." She said. "So, are you going to come?"

"Sure. Good night, Zelda."

"Good night!" Meghan said.

"Good night, you two." She said as Meghan and Link walked out. She told Impa something quickly, then Impa went out too. Meghan grabbed Link's hand, as Impa disappeared down the hallway.

"THIS IS MY ROOM!" She said, throwing the door open.

"Nice." He said, walking in.

"Sit! And don't go!"

"Sorry, but I have to."

"FINE! Bye bye!" She said, giving him a quick hug. "I'll see you at…10:00? PLEASE?"

"OK."

"Good. BYE!"

"Bye." He walked out the door.

"No! Don't go!" She said, throwing herself at his feet before he could close the door. "**Darn, reverse psychology doesn't work on you**!"

"No, whatever it is, doesn't. Please get up, you'll get your clothes dirty!"

"NO! DON'T LEAVE ME! I REALLY don't want to be here alone! Please?" She wrapped her arms around his legs. "DON'T GO DON'T GO!"

"I…have…to!" He said, trying to shake free. "Please, let go!"

"NO!"

"Meghan, don't let Zelda hear you!" He said in a whisper. She sniffed falsely and let go.

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Meghan." He turned around and started to walk away. Meghan felt a lump in her throat. Soon tears started to fall down her face. She tried to stop them, but couldn't. She tried to be silent, but couldn't. She made small whimper sounds. "Meghan?" He turned back around and saw the genuine tears fall down her face. "Oh, please don't cry." He went back to her, leaning in the doorframe. "It's OK, I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded, but tears kept falling down her face. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Sh, don't, please. I don't like when you cry." She wiped some of her tears away. "Good. Now, I'll see you tomorrow. That's not too far away, when you think of it. I'm always around. Always. You just have to remember that. OK?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I'll never be far." She nodded while sniffing.

"I'll see you to-tomorrow…" She said quietly. He gave her a quick hug, pulled away, looked at her for a second, then turned away and walked down the hall, (Not even knowing where he was going.)

She turned too and closed the door behind her. She suddenly perked up…

"OK, well, I'm stuck here by myself, may as well make the best of it!" She went into the bathroom. "Time for a nice bath!" She turned on the water, making it nice and hot. She carefully undressed, leaving the clothes in a neat pile on the floor. She pulled all the pins from her hair, and then let it all down. "Ahh…" She said as she got in. This was the first REAL bath she had had in a very long time. She leaned back and savored the moment. She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and saw a shelf next to the bathtub. There was lots of shampoo and stuff there.

"Shampoo stuff! I think!" She gingerly picked up a glass bottle and smelled it. It smelled like…flowers…flowers…

She picked another one up, this one smelled like potent perfume. "Ick!" it stung her nose. The third one she liked the most, it smelled like fruit! "Yay!" She dumped a bunch in her hands, rubbed them together, then worked it in her hair.

"Ah! Refreshing!" She sat there for a while, thinking of things a girl might think about, then after a while, she got out. She wrapped a towel around herself and crossed the sitting room to the bedroom. She threw open the doors to her "closet" thing, and took out her pajamas. They seemed to have been washed since last night… "Cool" She sniffed them and they smelled like fresh laundry. She quickly got dressed, 'cause it was cold! "I need a blow dryer! And some of that anti-frizz stuff that makes my hair soft! Oh, well. Whatever." She wasn't even going to try to brush her hair while it was wet. The only thing that did was make it more knotty and elastic-y.

_**So she waited.**_

She did, however, put it in a messy braid, to ensure future knots wouldn't occur while she was sleeping.

She "made" her bed, meaning she threw everything except the small blanket, two pillows, and a sheet on the floor. She sat down, leaning against the headboard and looked into nowhere. Then she got up.

"Wonder what Zellie put in here?" She went into the sitting room, to explore. There was a desk in the corner, near a window. She sat at it, and opened the drawers. "Pencils, paper, more paper, fancy paper, quills, pencils again…hmm, what's this?" She opened a small box. Empty. "Well, that was a rip-off." She opened a drawer to the side. Emtpy. "Yet another." A drawer on the other side…empty. But upon closer inspection (And due to the fact there was a string inside) she discovered a hidden compartment. Inside she found…papers…

"A letter?" She read it quickly, not knowing.

_Dear Impa,_

_I wonder if Ganon knows Terminian? Well, I shall write this in that language anyway. I don't like being here, when can I come back? I miss you, and Zelda, and the king. Sometimes I wonder why you even sent me here. Was it because I was a bad girl? I hope not, because I don't think I was a bad girl. Please, Impa, tell Zelda so I can come back. Does Zelda know Terminian? If she does, you can show her this letter. _

_Please send your response with the messenger I sent with this letter. He will only be here for a short time, so you and Zelda must hurry. _

_With lots of Love,_

_Sierace_

Meghan wondered about the letter for a while. What was it? Who was the girl, Sierace? She seemed to know Impa and Zelda very well, and the Royal Family. Why was she sent away? Should she tell Zelda about what she found? She quickly looked into the secret compartment. It looked like it hadn't been touched in ages. Yet how could it have survived Ganon's reign? She stuck her hand in and brought out a whole bulk of letters. On the bottom, she felt something hard. It looked like a diary!

The sad thing was, she couldn't read it. It was in Hylian.

Should she tell someone about this? Maybe Impa. She quickly put the letters and book back. She'd take a look later. Right now, she was tired. She closed the drawer; careful to make sure the hidden part would be concealed.

She continued her investigation of the room, and found a bookshelf. Sadly, most of the books were too in Hylian.

"Link, starting tomorrow, you are going to teach me Hylian." She said to herself as she looked through the books. "And you would think Zellie would put something else in here, besides Hylian." She looked on the top shelf. "Nothing." She looked at the bottom shelf. "YES!" She saw three books in English. One was an information book, the other didn't look too interesting, but the last seemed familiar… "Hyrule in a Glance? Wasn't that the book Link was reading?" She looked on the back cover, to see the summary that would have normally been there. Unfortunately yet again, Hylians seemed to have their own way of doing things. She opened the book to the first page while walking back to her room.

She got in the bed, pulling the covers over her legs and looking at the book.

"Interesting…We came here three years ago. This strange land called Hyrule was breathtaking…" she read aloud. "When we arrived, to bring the royal message to the King and Queen from our homeland, we didn't expect to see such a thing."

_And so, we ventured onward, meeting new people, making friends…_

_But just who are we, you ask? Why, we are the Freshenians. We have traveled from our land, Freshia, across the vast forest connecting our kingdom with Hyrule's…_

_Our lives changed when we came here…bringing us joy and sadness alike._

_This is our story, the story of Hyrule. In a glance. _

"Chapter one: Beginnings. Whoa, how long is this book?" She looked towards the back. It was 458 pages. "Cool, and no wonder Link liked it so much." She got comfortable and read until she could barely keep her eyes open. When she couldn't stay awake for a moment longer, she put the book down on the floor and blew out the candles around the room keeping it lit. "Fire bye bye."

She lie down, and soon fell asleep…

MEANWHILE…(You just knew it had to come!)

As Link galloped away from the castle on Epona, he thought about leaving Meghan there.

He reached his house, sitting on his bed. He looked out into nothing.

"I can't do this. I…" He faded away, realizing Navi was listening. "Navi…" he said, not really annoyed at her tonight.

"Link, if you miss her so much, go get her! You could have stayed for longer, you know!"

"I know…but I wanted her to get rest…sure she has healed, but I think she's still stressed, especially after this morning."

"How do you even know if she is sleeping? What time is it anyway?"

"I have no idea. Nor do I care. I just…"

"Yeah?"

"…Want…"

"Yeah?"

"Navi, you…fairy."

"What?"

"You're too nosy."

"Thanks, Linky."

"I don't want to stay here."

"What?"

"I'm going out. Come if you want, but I don't really care if you do or don't."

"That's nice. I don't wanna go anywhere."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Bye. I'm sleeping." She flew to the windowsill and lay down there.

"OK." He left the house. Once in the field, he called Epona. He knew what he was going to do, just needed a way to execute it.

He mounted Epona and rode around for some time, killing it. Then, he rode to Hyrule Castle Town. There, he dismounted and walked across the dark, empty town to the castle.

"I've done this many times. Doesn't look like it's changed much. Guards…as stupid as ever." He snuck past every last guard into the castle, finding a way in. "Security…bad as ever." He thought it was insanely stupid to leave the drawbridge down. He didn't blame Zelda, no, he blamed her defense. Meaning these idiot guards and that General Shina guy. He had no idea where to go, he just knew it was somewhere in there…he had to find it.

He entered the castle. "This could be like another temple, before Meghan's time." He quietly walked through the dimly lit hallway, the light sound of his footsteps and a small clang from his weapons the only sounds he made. He went through many halls, encountering dead ends here and there, but kept going. He had to find that room…he knew it was there somewhere…

"Good." He said, seeing the door finally. "I couldn't live like that…" He opened the door and entered. He laughed a bit quietly, "Perfect." He saw what he wanted.

And all that showed throughout the room, was his huge smile.

Just perfect.

He didn't want to be lonely…

…

**(Gasp!) What is Link getting at the castle? Who is Sierace? And what signifigance do these questions have in our lives? Why, they affect future chapters, of course! And future stories! Erm, I already have most of the next chapter written on paper (That was what I did all during school for the past week…) it's just a matter of typing it up and fixing some things. (I wrote it before I wrote this chapter…trouble…)**

**Let me just warn you that I made Link a VERY bad boy in the next chappie…even worse than Luke supposedly was in this chapter! OK, I blab too much!…**


	58. Un Peu Plus: A Little Extra

**Un peu plus…**

**How to teach a Hylian to do random things! This is just a bunch of excerpts from my story…yeah, if you wanna skip this you can but…whatever.**

**This is Hylian Lessons 101!**

The Marvels of Technology

"What's a video game?"

"It's a sort of…something…that has a controller…that you…hold in your hands… and press that buttons…and control people…"

"That sounds cruel, how do you control people by using a …what's it called? A controlly?"

"No, it's a controllER. And they're not REAL people. They come up on a television screen. But…"

"Hold on. I don't get it. What's a 'television' and where are you from?"

"A television is where you watch people on a screen. A camera, which is something that records people when they do things, records them and then displays them on the TV."

"What's a TV? And how big is the Television? It must be big to fit people inside."

"No, it's just a recording of the people. It's just their picture, just their image."

"OOOHH!"

2) The Meaning of an "Expression"

a)"That must be hard, living with thick people."

"Well, it's not like a disease you know. You make it sound like it is."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just a phrase, an expression."

"OH."

b)"A goody goody is somebody who has to do everything right all the time, every day."

"I guess I'm a goody goody."

"No-"

"But I always do everything right. I'm not evil. I can't imagine being evil."

" A goody goody is more of…let's see… they wouldn't TOUCH a sword, they would be too afraid to get hurt."

"Oh, then I guess I'm not a goody goody."

c)"No. I am just window shopping."

"But there's no window!"

"Ex. Pre. Ssion."

"Oh. Right then.

3) French Lessons

"French?"

"Oui, monsieur, à la classe du Français."

"What?"

"à la classe du Français."

"What does that mean?"

"In the class of the French, technically. In English, it would translate into 'In French class'"

"But what is French?"

"A language."

"OK…"

"OK, monsieur. Nous allons aller…uh… save Hyrule." She did not know how to say 'save' in French. "Oui, monsieur. Oh, and what I just said means 'yes mister.'"

"How do you say yes miss?"

"Oui, mademoiselle."

"Oui made-mad-yoisell"

4) Hand Shakes: Past and Present Meanings

"We got off to a weird start…very weird, so we need a proper introduction. Hi, I'm Meghan Black, from earth." She said as she stuck out her hand. Link looked at it. Then he looked at her face, then back down at her hand.

"It's OK. I know you don't have any weapons. You don't have to prove it to me." If they were in an anime, they would have done an "anime fall," as they're called. (which is, to all you non-anime watchers shame on you! a fall to the floor at a stupid or clueless remark.) But, it's a video game so they can't.

"No, it's a hand shake. Yes, that was the original meaning, but no, this is a handshake. It's what people from my world do to greet each other. Take my hand," she coaxed him, he stuck out his awkwardly, and she took it. "And shake. Up and down, there you go!" he let go, looking quite confused, as though he had no idea what he just did. "Now I've taught you something from my culture, now you have to teach from yours."

5) Biology: The Study of Living Things

a)"OH MY GODESSES! YOU'RE LEAKING!"

"What? Oh, that. It's just blood."

"Blood?"

"Yeah. It's used to transport oxygen and nutrients throughout our bodies. You don't know much about humans, do you?"

"I paid attention in biology." She said. "There… are two kinds of respiration, aerobic and anaerobic... Aerobic… is where you use oxygen... It goes through three main parts…and makes twenty…four I think, ATPs when it's finished. But if you use… a lot of oxygen when exercising…it goes into…oxygen debt…and you switch to anaerobic respiration…which is…when you don't use oxygen…and it makes a lot less ATPs…(Insert large exhale here)"

c)"OK. It's called choking. When food gets stuck in your trachea, that's your wind pipe where you breathe, due to the epiglottis not closing in time, or not completely closing," yes, she resorted to big scientific words to confuse him, "you can't breathe and then you choke, because the food can't go down, and it's too stuck to go back off. So your first reaction is coughing, and then if you can't get it out you will pass out within a short amount of time. What came out of my mouth was the piece of what I just ate. Needed to come out somewhere."

6) Horseback Riding Lessons

"Oh. Why do you hold it so strange?"

"Where I come from, there are a few ways you can ride. Yours is called western. Mine is called English."

"That's interesting."

7) Temples: A Bit of Heck

"Don't use it unless you're on the brink of death and BE CAREFUL! Morpha has a tendency to throw you and it hurts. If you need time to recover, stand in the corner, he can't reach there. Careful of the spikes. Have the long shot and your bow, just in case, ready, and of course the sword. Good luck."

Link stood there, dumbfounded. "What?"

The Art of Pulling a Bugs Bunny

"I want to go too."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me come."

"Who said you could come?"

"You just did."

"I did not. Oh, wait." He thought for a second. "That was not fair. You can't come. No way."

"Stop being a hypocrite. You say I can't come, but then you say I can, and then say that you didn't say that I could but you really did say that I could because you just changed your mind, but then said you didn't."

8) Self Confidence Lessons

"How do you not trust yourself? I trust you more than I trust anyone else I've ever met, because of what you are. Because of WHO you are. I know I didn't trust you as soon as we met, but now I do. And it's pathetic because I've known you for all of two and a half weeks and you've known yourself for your whole life, save seven years, and you can't even trust yourself! That's so stupid it's practically irrelevant! Not possible." Link seemed to be knocked back into a world that made sense after this speech.

9) The Best Way to Eat Mashed Potatoes

"MASHED POTATOES! Mm…I can just taste their mushy goodness…filling me up and adding mayonnaise for no apparent reason and then adding chocolate milk! Ah, my friends and I would do that for hours unless we were at school, which was the only time we did it. Then we wouldn't do it for hours. Just for about thirty minutes. Yes, mashed potatoes were fun…"

10) Quotes…

"Have you ever thought that maybe my questions aren't weird, but yours are? Maybe you are just the weird one, and since you've been asking yourself all your own questions, mine seem weird. It's like that one guy said…what was his name? I forgot. He said 'I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call people weird that are weird.' Oh yeah! It was Paul McCartney." Link thought for a second.

"No I honestly didn't think about that. And who is Paul McCartney?"

"He is some dude. I forgot what he did. I think he was a singer or something. But I'm not sure…"

"That makes me think. I must be very weird."

"Yes, so am I."

"People say…interesting things where you come from."

"Yeah, I'm full of quotes. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said 'It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.' And William Faulkner said 'I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail…because he has a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.'"

"I like that one. Who is William Faulkner?"

"I have no idea."

"Ah."

"I have one that you would like even better. I don't remember who it's said by. 'The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience." (A/N-this is a quote by Leo Tolstoi)

**And that was Hylian Lessons 101.**

**And so you guys don'tdie of suspense…**

**Here is a tiny preview of the next chapter!**

She slowly opened her eyes and looked into his face…into his eyes…those beautiful eyes…those…hypnotizing eyes…

She caught herself and looked away. She let go suddenly. This surprised him, as he slid back a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"It's cold…"

**That is all you get. YAY! Bye bye!**


	59. DAY SIX: Link the Ghetto Bad Boy

Hi! It's me again! And I wanted everyone to know something: some of you seemed confused…last chapter was some EXCEPRTS from earlier parts of my story. It sounded like you thought that was a completely original chapter, but it wasn't!

**To my people**

**Serenity: Chapter 22: Hmm…you shall see now! Thank you, and…uh, no more waiting! LOL that was funny. Thank you again!**

**Mewlon: Aaw! (Teary eyes) Thank you so much! That was a beautiful review! THANKS! I'll try to register! **

**Kitana: 22: Did you finish yet? Well, thanks anyway! 23: I updated on 4-19-05! Thank you!**

**Meowzi: 22: Thank you, yeah, I wouldn't torture her that much, you shall see, and you shall see! 23: I promise it is not what you think. But you, of all people, should not be worrying! And I didn't have writer's block then…well, not badly…but now I do, which is why I put this chapter up! **

**Tizami: Thank you, I shall have fun! I sent you the test! **

**Princess Kathleen: 22: (whines) NO! Erm…no…? Sorry. Not until-(Once again silenced by Nayorin) Err…wow, I just wanna give everything away! (Wait a second…what is "or worse" supposed to mean? OK, now I'm scared…) 23: Erm…thank you…! (Oh yeah. My friend, KittyKayla (I know her personally) says to thank you for writing a review for her story. She says she's going to continue it, but don't get your hopes up. I'll ask her if I can do it! Hmm…)**

**DrippingInk: Thank you! Yes…OK!**

**Kuramas Girl Angel: …And She Returns…(Wow! That could be my sequel's title if it made sense, sadly it doesn't.) THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**Erm…that's everyone I believe. **

Day Six

Meghan woke. While still lying in the large, four-post bed, she looked around the bedroom. Her eyes strayed to the clock on the wall to the left, and she saw the time.

"9:03." She said to herself. She sat up, the blanket still covering her legs. She pushed her hair back and flattened it. She blinked several time and rubbed her eye, pushed the blanket back, and got out of the bed. After making sure the door was closed, she changed.

She slipped on a red shirt she found. It was long sleeved and plain, but comfortable. It was made of a soft, silky material, much like the shirt she used to wear, before Zelda got her new clothes. She put on a pair of baggy beige pants. Oh, behold the bagginess! How did Zelda ever know what she liked?

After looking in the mirror for a few seconds, she removed the shirt, put on a tank top she also found, then put the shirt on again.

_Calculating…we've been everywhere except Lake Hylia and with the Zoras. Ah, Ruto is today._

She combed her hair (Which was much easier to comb now) and decided to put it up, to avoid getting knots.

"Yay!" she said and skipped to the door of the room. But when she opened it, she froze.

DUN DUN DUN…

"Oh, you're here!" She said to the random person sitting on the couch.

"Yeah." He said. She went and sat next to him.

"What brings you to my lonely room, Link?"

"The very thought of being lonely." Link answered.

"How long have you been here?"

"All night."

"And you sat here, awake, all night?" She asked, in shock.

"I was lonely."

"And so was I."

"Yeah."

"So seriously, you sat here all night?"

"Yeah."

"Why wouldn't you wake me? I would have woken up."

"You were sleeping." She rolled her eyes.

"That's your reason?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, you are odd."

'What about that thing you told me the other day about the weird people?"

"I said you were odd."

"I know."

"That one refers to weird people."

"Oh."

"So what are we going to do today?" She hugged a pillow from the couch to herself. "The only place we haven't been is Lake Hylia, and Zora's domain, with the Zoras, and all that watery stuff."

"So I guess that will be where we go." He said sadly. It all seemed so sad. This was their last full day. Possibly.

"I wish it wasn't this way."

"We should be thankful. Zelda could have decided it would be after two days, or one day. We're fortunate we got a week."

"What would you do if you had to make that decision?" He thought, then said,

"Please don't make me answer that question. That's not the way it is."

"But don't you ever wonder 'what if?'"

"Sometimes, but not for things so important."

"So you're not going to say?" she paused. "Because if it is a matter of hurting my feelings or anything, don't be afraid that it will."

"No, that's not why. I just couldn't say."

"You really won't?"

"No."

"Then I shall decide for you!"

"OK."

"I think…I think you would…wait. But not for long. Yes, no, you would do exactly as Zelda did. But you would never leave it unfinished."

"Wait, I know what I would do now!"

"What?"

"I would wait. But not for that long. Yes, no, I would do as Zelda did, but never leave it unfinished,"

"The funny thing is I just said that."

"Yeah, I know."

"So…" She said, dropping the subject. "You wanna leave?"

"Sure." They sat for a second longer, then Meghan stood up.

"I was about to find Zelda, but…"

"Do you want to see her?"

"No, I'm good."

"OK." They walked out.

"Can we go to Zora's domain?"

"I guess so."

"One problem, though." Meghan said in front of Zelda's door, where they had walked. "I still have no idea how to get around the castle."

"Oh, yeah, that could be a problem."

"Um…I think it was this way…" She pointed down a hall.

"I remember coming this way." He pointed down a different one.

"Uh, OK." She followed him. "Oh, yeah. This IS right because I remember that." That pointed to a little statuette thing.

"I couldn't see that in the dark."

"Yeah, we're going the right way. Oh, great. Any ideas?" They had reached a spot where that were three possible halls to go through.

"Not one." He responded. Meghan sighed.

"You know whenever we mention Zelda, she pops up?"

"Um…"

"Well, I sure wish Zelda were here right now!" Silence. "Darn it!"

"Oh well. We'll eventually find a way out."

"We just have to be careful who we run into."

"Why?"

"There's that Shina dude who seems to hate me. I don't know if Zellie lets him in the castle, but we still need to be careful."

"We can send Navi as a scout."

"Why do you always make me do that?"

"Because, You are my guardian fairy. Guard me and go see if anyone is coming before us." He poked her.

"Thank, Navi!" Meghan said as Navi drooped low to the floor and flew away, muttering.

"OK. So, let's go the way Navi goes." They followed Navi through the halls, sometimes retracing their steps and going other ways, and down some stairs. When they were pretty sure they were close to the exit, Link suddenly grabbed Meghan and pulled her in a dark spot in the hall, behind a large statue of the former king. She yelped, but he quickly put his hand over her mouth so she wouldn't say anything. He shook his head. She turned around to see, and he let go of her mouth. They saw, guess who, walking down the hall with someone they didn't know, and couldn't see very well.

"It's becoming a problem." General Shina said.

"Yes, I think it would be best if we just stopped it." Meghan looked on as they walked directly in front of the statue, where she couldn't see them.

"How do we do that? In the easiest way, I mean. We don't want any complications." He stopped walking. The other guy stopped right where Meghan could see him.

"Give her a clean cut." He took his index finger and traced it horizontally along his neck. They began to laugh. Meghan watched their backs as they walked again, and turned a corner. Link and Meghan waited a second, and then walked out of their hiding spot.

"I wonder what that was about." Link asked.

"I don't know, but it sounded like someone was in trouble. A girl, they said 'her.'"

"Yeah."

Meghan gasped. "You don't think they were talking about Zelda, do you?"

"Maybe. But Zelda will be OK. They couldn't do anything to her."

"I hope so." They walked again. "OH! YES! It's the exit! Many minutes later!"

"Good."

"I was starting to worry we'd never get out."

"Yes," he said. They walked out the large doors, into the garden. Then they walked over the lowered drawbridge. Then they heard an annoyed voice say,

"YOU again." Meghan knew whom it belonged to. She angrily turned on him.

"Oh, just SHUT UP. I'm going to be here as much as I want. Just leave me the heck alone."

"If you kiss me."

Meghan gasped in shock and anger. But before she could react, Link had drawn his sword and had it at Shina's neck. He put his face near Shina's and said in a low, threatening voice.

"If you ever, EVER touch her, you'll have to answer to me." (BAD BOY ACT NUMERO UNO!) The general fumbled for his sword, but appeared too nervous and scared to pull it out.

"Get…get off me!" he said. A person at his side made a move to get Link away, but Link simply stood to the side. Meghan took a step back, and didn't know what to do. She hated Shina so bad, especially after that, but she didn't want Link to be like that. It made him seem…evil.

She heard a gasp from behind her. She turned and saw Zelda standing there, with Luke.

"Link!" Zelda said in shock.

"Princess!" Shina said, helplessly.

"Luke?" Meghan asked as he ran forward to stop Link.

"Meghan." The guy next to Shina said, and began to run to Meghan. A blade glinted at his side as he drew it from a sheath.

She was the target, not Zelda!

Luke, whose original goal was to break Link away from Shina, quickly changed his direction and drew his own sword. He used the flat of the blade and held it in front of the man's stomach.

"Try to move, and I will slit."

Meghan had no idea what to do.

"Meghan, come here, quickly." Zelda said. She quickly stepped away from the two pairs. "Link, lower your sword please. Luke, you too." Luke immediately did. Link, however, took this chance to make sure Shina was scared out of his wits. He gave him a deadly glare he knew he would not mess with. He said something in Hylian that Meghan didn't understand. Shina fell to his knees. Link replaced his sword.

"What happened?" She asked quietly.

"We came outside and Shina was here. He was being really annoying, and said something…disgusting…and then Link went berserk and put his sword like that. But also, in the halls we heard Shina say he had to get rid of someone." Zelda had listened patiently throughout, and when Meghan was finished, said,

"I see." She walked to where Link was standing. Shina was in such fear; he was just staring into space. Luke was guarding the other man so he would not run. He had a malevolent, yet angered look on his face. "Link, would you please step back?" She gently touched his arm. He seemed to come back into reality.

"Yeah, Zelda?"

"Link, please step back. I want to speak to General Shina." Link walked to Meghan.

"What happened to him?" he asked Meghan. Meghan stared with her mouth open, and her eyes wide.

"You don't remember?

"No…" He said with a confused look. "What?"

"He got really scared." Sometimes it was best not to explain things.

"Shina, Shina, are you all right?" Zelda asked him, gently touching his shoulder. It surprised Meghan that she was so patient with someone who she disliked so much. "Shina." She helped him up. "Shina, I want you to know I'm disappointed in you." I am replacing you with Luke." She said loud enough for Luke, Meghan and Link to hear.

"Zelda!" Luke said, surprised.

"Luke?" She asked, as if he was questioning her authority.

"I cannot accept this responsibility! I am happy as spymaster."

"Luke, you are appointed." She said gravely.

"Understood."

"Shina, I would like you to gather your things and leave tomorrow. Please."

"Yes princess." He choked, finally saying something. He turned and left.

"As for you, Fikel, you are dismissed without further comment. And you will be tried with treason against the crown."

"But princess!"

"Don't argue with her. You won't get anywhere." Luke said. "Zelda, what do you want me to do with him?" Zelda frowned.

"Anything, just don't put him in the dungeon. I have terrible memories of that place.

FLASHBACK

"Impa, what are they doing with her?" Zelda asked as a guard half dragged a weak girl past her. Her clothes were ripped, and her eyes were closed.

"Zelda, it is best we forget it. Come along, it is bed time." She took Zelda by the hand and started walking down the hall. The little Zelda was persistent.

"Is that little girl going to play with the people in the dungeon? You said there were lots of people there. Are they friendly? Will they play with her? I don't want her to be alone. I can go play with her." Impa stopped walking and closed her eyes and sighed. She kneeled down to Zelda's height and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Please, Princess Zelda. Promise me you will never go down there. Promise you will never, ever."

"Why? I can go visit her. Then she won't be lonely, even if there are people down there."

"Never, Zelda."

"Impa?"

"Yes, Zelda?"

"Never?"

"Yes, never." Zelda looked into her eyes and slowly, slowly nodded. "Good. Come on, let's get changed."

When Zelda was in bed that night, she couldn't sleep. She wanted to play with that girl. So she got out of bed. She sneaked past Impa, who was at a desk within Zelda's room, writing. She quietly closed the door. Impa turned and looked to see who was at the door, but it was already closed. Impa turned back.

Zelda snuck down the corridors, to where she saw the guards taking the girl. She opened the door, and walked into a very dark, dank hall. The floor was covered in dirt, making her little shoes filthy. The stone hall twisted, until she reached another door. She opened it.

She gasped as she saw what was in it. Lots of cells, filled with emaciated people. They either slept on dirty cots, with nothing but a ripped, dirty blanket on each, or stood looking at her.

"Princess! Get me out of here and I'll get you as many dolls as you can dream of!"

"Princess! I love you! You have my loyalty!"

"Princess!

"Your Royal Highness!" She heard calls from people inside, sticking out skinny, grimy hands. The ones calling woke up the sleeping ones, who in turn tried to touch her. She stood as in the middle as she could, trying not to be touched. She walked all the way to the end, each and every cell reaching towards her. Except too.

One was an old, old man; apparently too old to even care where he was. He was mostly naked, except a loincloth. She shivered at the sight. The other was the girl. She smiled and ran to her cell.

"Hello! What's your name?" the girl was sitting on the bed, playing with a hole in her clothes. The girl looked towards her and smiled. She had long, blonde hair. Her blue eyes shone brightly, obviously overjoyed that the princess would come see her.

"Hello, Your Highness." She stood and curtsied; using what little dress she had left. "It is an honor to meet you."

"What are you doing in here? Are you playing? What's your name?" the little Zelda asked. The girl was two years older than herself, at the time. That was eight.

"I…I…don't know. They told me I couldn't stay out by myself. Have I been a bad girl?"

"No, I don't think so. What is your name?" Zelda put her little, pale skinned hands on the grubby bars of the cell.

"My name, Princess?"

"Yes."

"I'm…I'm Sierace."

"Hi Sierace! My name is Zelda."

"I knew that, silly." Sierace walked over to bars. "You are the princess."

"Oh yeah! You wanna come play?"

"No, they told me I have to stay in here."

"Don't worry. You can come out to come with me!"

"I can't. I'm locked in, anyway."

"Where are the keys?"

"The guard has them."

"Oh. I'm sure I can open this." She put her hand out and looked at the lock. "Mommy has been teaching me. I think I can do some magic."

"Oh, Princess! You shouldn't! I'll get in trouble! And you might, too." Zelda looked up, her hand still there.

"Please call me Zelda. I like it much more than princess." She looked down at the lock, concentrated hard, stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, and tried to open it. After some time, she finally did. She opened it.

"Zelda, I can't, really."

"No, you haven't been bad. I want you out. Come on." She took the girl's hand and ran to the exit, ignoring the other's hands.

"But I'll get in trouble!"

"No you won't." They ran through the halls to Zelda's room. Zelda opened the door quickly.

"ZELDA!" Impa cried, getting up from her chair. "Sierace? What…"

"Impa, you know Sierace?"

"Impa!" Sierace threw her arms around Impa. Impa pushed her back.

"I'm sorry, Sierace."

"What? Impa?"

"Not right now. Zelda, why did you go there? Why?"

"Because Sierace was lonely."

"But…"

"Impa! She needs new clothes. Do any of mine fit her?"

"Zelda…" Impa said, not sure what to do. If she hid this girl here, she could get in trouble with the crown. But Sierace…this girl, she could not leave her. "I'm sure you have something." She went into Zelda's bedroom, and opened the wardrobe. She pulled out a nightgown that was too big for Zelda. It would just fit Sierace.

"Impa, I'm sorry."

"Impa, how do you know Sierace?" Zelda asked eagerly. She jumped up and down near Impa.

"Oh, Zelda. Your clothes are all dirty. Come on, you two, let's wash up." Impa picked up Zelda and brought her to the bathroom. She took off Zelda's nightgown and put her in the bathtub.

"Impa, how do you know her?" Sierace opened her mouth to speak, but Impa silenced her.

"Zelda, I…Sierace was…"

"Zelda?" Zelda suddenly looked up. Luke had just woken her out of her thoughts. "Zelda, are you OK?"

"Oh, yes, yes. Um, lock him in a spare room if you must."

"Right. Come on, get going." Luke led him back inside. Meghan walked over to Zelda.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I just need to escape from this." She saw Meghan's worried look. "But do not be bothered with me. I just need to figure this out."

"Zelda, please don't…kill that guy."

"Oh, right. I wouldn't allow it."

"Because even though he attempted to do something, he didn't."

"Yes, you're right. So where are you going today?" Zelda changed the subject quickly. Link walked over.

"We were going to see Ruto today." Meghan responded.

"Oh, right. She is the last." They nodded. "Well, you go have fun!" She smiled.

"Thanks, Zelda" Link said. Zelda opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it, smiled and nodded.

"I'll see you later." She was worried about Link, but she knew she couldn't stop him.

"Bye…" Meghan said, reluctant to leave…with this…

"Bye." Link said. They turned and walked away. Zelda watched them leave partly, but turned and ran to the castle to find Luke.

Zelda found him on the second floor.

"I put him in the storeroom over th-" But Zelda had thrown her arms around him, shocking him, and hugging him tight. "Zelda?" he asked as he heard little sobs.

"Luke, I can't do this! I don't think I'll ever make it!

"Don't say that. Zeld, you'll do fine."

"But Luke, this is only my fifth day, and I'm falling apart!" Luke separated himself from her, and took both her hands in his.

"Zelda. Remember this. You are not alone. You have many friends to help you. You have Link. You have Meghan. And you can always, always count on me to be here."

"Thank you Luke." She buried her face in his shoulder. He gently rocked her back and forth.

MEANWHILE, with emotions still undecided and tensions high…

Meghan walked a bit away from Link. Why had he gotten like that?

And why the heck could he not remember what he did?

She must have seemed unhappy, because Link asked, "Meghan, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She said quietly.

"What is the matter? You don't look fine." Meghan made a small noise, like she couldn't make up her mind.

"Link, do you really, really want to know why Shina was so scared?" She stopped walking.

"I suppose." He did too.

"Don't get angry at me, but it was…because of you."

"Me? What did I do? And why would I be angry at you?"

"Link, I don't know why, but you got all…protective and sorta threatened him. Then Zelda came, and seemed to bring you back to reality. And that dude with Shina…before…tried to hurt me, but Luke stopped him."

"Some tried to hurt you?" he said in surprise.

"Yeah. Well, we think he was. He had a…never mind." But she was scared to continue. She didn't know what he would do.

"No, really. I want to know what happened. It was really me?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

"And…now you're scared of me, aren't you."

"No! I would never be scared of you."

"Then why do you walk all the way over there?"

"Is it against the law?"

"No. I'm sorry…I honestly, truly don't even remember."

"It's OK…I think."

"Meghan, if I ever do that again, don't be afraid to tell me."

"Yes."

"And…and I don't ever want to…" he faded away. "So if I ever do that again…get away from me."

"I couldn't." She said, staring at him. "Link, I know you would never hurt…me…no matter what state you were in."

"Still…"

"No. I'll stand by you…because we made a promise." He nodded. "Now…maybe we can just FORGET that and go have fun? No more remembering it, OK? No more mentioning."

"Yes. Well, then, c'mon!" They ran out of the town. Once in the field, Link and Meghan stopped.

"Let's go this way. Then we can go to Zora's Domain." She pointed down the little river thing.

"OK." They ran over the bridge, and then ran in the back there. Once they were at Zora's River, they ran to the bean plant thing.

"If we take this, it will be a lot faster."

"OK."

"You just have to be ready to jump off at the end. It won't wait."

"Right." They hopped on the thing. But as it lifted, Meghan nearly lost her balance. As she swayed, Link caught her around her waist and pulled her close.

"Careful."

"Thanks. She didn't look down, it was scary. Her waist tingled where he touched her…_get off me_…she said silently. But deeper inside…

…She knew she never wanted him to let go.

"Meghan, get ready to jump…" She did. He let go as they landed. (And it was a cool landing, might I add) (Sorry, I was bored and just imagining things…)

When they were in front of the waterfall, Link played Zelda's Lullaby, and they jumped over the gap into the waterfall.

"Oh! It's so PRETTY!" She exclaimed, walking in. "I've never been here!"

"That's right, you haven't. Well, then let me introduce you to everyone. That's not many." He led her to the shop. "That's the shop keeper."

"Hi!" Meghan said, and he waved his fin-like hand. "And if we go this way…" they walked up to where King Zora was. "Then we see King Zora. We have to stand here to talk to him."

"HI! Your Majesty!" Meghan said. He didn't respond. "_Is he sleeping_?" She whispered.

"Er…no..I mean, maybe…"

"Oh. Darn."

"Well, there are still more people!" He led her to Zora's Fountain. "Here is where Lord Jabu Jabu would be…if he was here."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"It's cold here. I didn't bring my coat, silly me."

"Coat?"

"I mean…cloak…finish the tour!"

"Oh, yeah. That is ice over there…" he pointed to some ice formations.

"OH HI ICE!" she waved frantically. (A/N thing- for description of their lovely visit, read Frozen, a poem by me that I had psychic powers to write before I even wrote this story! (No reviews necessary) (Unless you are a nice person ;) ))

"I wonder where Ruto is."

"I have no idea. You're the Zora's Domain expert."

"Oh, well. We'll find her somewhere."

"Link, have you ever gone skating?" Meghan said randomly and suddenly.

"Not really."

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING! Too bad, though. We don't have states, but shoes work fine!"

"But-"

"NO buts! Let's skate!" She ran back inside, all the way down to where the shop was, then down farther onto the ice. When Meghan first stepped on, she slid around a little. But soon she found her balance and skated forward. "WEEEE!" Link had stepped onto the ice, but was merely watching Meghan slide around. "Come on, Mr. Hylian!" She went behind him and pushed him. He slid forward. "I'm not going to stop until you are enjoying yourself! Co-"

"OK!" He turned around swiftly and caught her hands, which were just about to push him again. "WE will enjoy ourselves." He skated backwards, still holding her hands. She trailed along for the free ride and closed her eyes. She didn't really think about before…

She always thinks she can stay angry with him…

…Yet she does not have a clue…

_The only reason he went crazy like that before was because he was protecting me. Though his actions were violent, he really only had noble intentions…I have to forget about that. I feel so sorry for him…he doesn't remember? Wow…_

She slowly opened her eyes and looked into his face…into his eyes…those beautiful eyes…those…hypnotizing eyes…

She caught herself and looked away. She let go suddenly. This surprised him, as he slid back a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"It's cold…Can we go swimming?"

"Huh?" He wasn't sure why she had just changed the subject like that. _It's Meghan. I should know…_ "OK."

"Can we teleport?"

"OK." He pulled out the ocarina and played the Serenade of Water. (a ↓ ← ← →) Within seconds, they found themselves at Lake Hylia.

"YAY! We get to go swimming!" She said. "OK! But I cannot go swimming in this stupid shirt!" She made a move to pull the shirt off. Link quickly looked the other way, not knowing she had something on under it. (WHAT THE HECK WAS HE THINKING?) "Wait, stupid sword!" She took off the sword and the backpack. Then she removed the shirt. The tank top was white and frilly, but she didn't care at the moment. It had thin straps, bigger than spaghetti straps, yet smaller than the ones on the tank top she had worn the first day she was there.

Thus resulting in mad blushing.

"I SHALL race you to the temple!" She jumped in the water. It was warm, and just right. "Link, do you think you're going to swim with all that stuff?" she said as she surfaced. Dripping wet, she pulled herself back onto the land. "Evil wet clothes." She flicked her hair at him, splashing him. "Hello, are you awake?" he just stared at her. The wet clothes stuck to her frame. Her wet hair was over her shoulder. "Yo. Take it off." She went to him and poked the sword. "Off off off…" she poked it madly. "OFF OFF OFF!" She poked it one last time before stepping back.

"Right." He finally said, taking off the shield and sword and leaving them near the teleporty platform thing.

"Okey dokie! Come on!" She pulled him. "GO GO!"

"Hold on!" He said.

"Fine. I'm going! I'll be there when you're ready to join me."

"…" She jumped back in the water and swam as far as she could hold her breath. She came back up, inhaling and looking back at him. He was just staring. She went under again, coming up right near the stone thingy above the frozen entrance to Zora's Domain. She climbed on top of it.

"_Dude, he never used to stare into thin air like that. He's so detached lately. Then again, we all are_…" she whispered to herself. "COME ON!" She shouted to him. He seemed to nod (She couldn't see him well, she was far) and dove in. He swam all the way to her, taking no breath, due to the effects of the Zora Tunic.

He appeared right in front of the…platform thingy…and put his arms on the top.

"Hi." She said, sitting down. The water came up to her stomach.

"Hi." He pulled himself up next to her.

"I wanna go back in the water." They both stood up.

"OK." He grinned and pushed her in. She sputtered and coughed up water.

"HEY! That wasn't nice!" (Oh, I just realized, this be a minor bad boy act! Sorta…it wasn't counted in the two…NUMBER ONE AND A HALF!)

"Sorry." He jumped in next to her, making a big splash. "But you said you wanted to go in."

"I was perfectly capable of going in by myself, thank you." She beamed. "But since I'm in, and you're in…" She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him in the water. "TAKE that!" She said to herself, swimming around the side of him. She didn't get very far. He had grabbed her leg. "Get off!" She said, keeping herself floating with her arms, but kicking her right foot so he would let go.

"No."

"Don't make me hurt you!"

"Hollow threats. Kick me." He knew she wouldn't do it. And she didn't. But she did something else. She pulled off his hat. "GIVE IT BACK!" He yelled. She had gotten him!

"Nuh-uh." She teased, swimming away as fast she could. Of course, he followed her. She was a sorta fast swimmer, but he could keep up easily. He grabbed the hat from her hand and swam the opposite direction. He fit his hat back on his head angrily.

"Are you mad?"

"MY hat."

"OK. Your hat."

"No, MY hat."

"OK, my hat." She giggled. He swam to the shore. "Are you running away from me?"

"No."

"Then why did you run away?"

"Because." He shook himself like a dog, to amuse her. She giggled more.

"You're annoying."

"And you're twice as annoying."

"Thanks!" She said enthusiastically. "Well, I'd love to chat, but I'm gonna go swim!"

"You do that." He said, turning his back to her and looking at something.

"Something wrong?"

"No." He turned his head towards her.

"Watcha looking at?" She swam to the shore and got out of the water.

"Just thinking." He said quietly.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

He smiled. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, that's good. We shouldn't be all mope-y today!"

"Yeah." He turned back around. "Are you going back in?"

"If you do." She said, walking to his side so she could see him while talking to him. (Rude! Turning away…)

"Go ahead, I'll be right there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, go." She smiled and skipped back to the lake. "_Yeah. Go. Just don't…go tomorrow…_" She went into the water, until it was about up to her chest. She stopped and seemed to be staring at something, near the Water Temple.

He turned and looked at her. Her dark hair seemed black when wet. The part out of the water shone, while the part in floated around. Through the crystal clear water, her skin seemed milky white, without flaws…

He couldn't take it…

He silently entered the water behind her. She either didn't hear him, or knew it was him so didn't turn around. Either way, it worked for him.

Link came up behind her, seizing her by the waist. She seemed surprised and turned her head. He brought his head near her own.

His face was so near hers…

His eyes looking into her own…

"Link?" she asked, before forgetting everything except those big, blue, happy, yet sad eyes. She knew, in her mind…but she couldn't get her body to move…

So let me slip against the current

His face was mere inches from her own…

…Growing ever closer. It was like slow motion to her…

…Maybe it really was…centimeters…

"Link! Oh, Link!" Meghan shook her head and slipped out of his grasp. She looked back at Link like she just woke up, wondering what was going on in the world around her. _What was that? What just happened? Um…he…_

(MWAHAHAHA! Wow, you should have seen how evilly I was laughing right there. Um, that's number two all right…man, I feel so embarrassed! (Runs and hides in corner) Why did I do that?)

The voice was high-pitched, yet smooth and eloquent. Meghan looked to where it came from. The temple, it seemed. But then she saw two Zoras swimming toward her. She swam to meet them.

"Ruto!" She said, seeing the familiar Zora head above the water. The other one had a shy, yet inquisitive face. She trailed behind Ruto, in the water.

"Hi!" Meghan said. Ruto nodded uninterestedly, and her companion waved. _I didn't know there were more Zoras…_

Ruto swam right past Meghan, making a beeline for Link.

"Oh LINKY! Finally, finally we can be together!" She said, grabbing his hands and turning in a circle with him. "Now nothing can stand in our way!"

"Something already did." He said seriously.

"Whatever would that be?" She asked sternly.

"Ruto, you're a sage. It will not work."

"Oh," she looked away and let go. "Right."

"We can still be friends."

"YES! Yes, we can be best friends!"

"OK…"

"Great!"

MEANWHILE…

"Hi, what's your name?"

"My name is Kazana."

"Yo. I'm Meghan." She nodded eagerly.

"I've been waiting to meet you, Meghan! The princess told me about you!"

"Oh, right."

"Why did you come here? I find you fascinating. I always found Hylians fascinating. You are even more so."

"Well, I didn't exactly choose to come here…uh, I'm glad you find such an interest in me!"

"Alright. Would you like some fish? It's really good. It's Ruto's favorite. That's why I have it. Fish? Yes, no?"

"Um, no thanks…I'm not hungry at the moment."

"Maybe later?"

"Maybe…"

"Want to play a game? It's a fun game!"

"How old are you?' was the first response from Meghan's mouth. Kazana tilted her head to one side.

"I'm fifteen. Wanna play?"

"Um…I think we should save Link first."

"Oh! Right! Princess! Princess Ruto!" Ruto, who was chasing Link, turned and looked at Kazana.

"Yes?" She asked irritably, in Hylian. Meghan understood that word.

"Let's play the game!"

"Oh yes! Come on, Link! We MUST!"

"No…" he whined in Hylian, turning around. But Ruto had grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the water.

"Please, Link?

"No!"

"COME ON!" She said firmly. Meghan was curious about the game, and wanted to tell him to come, but didn't feel like opening her mouth to tell him. Instead, she went underwater as he drew closer, ending up behind Kazana. When she came up, Link was in the part of the water where they could stand. She followed Kazana to them.

"So what game is it?" She asked Kazana.

"It's called…it's called…um…what would it translate to? Do you know, Ruto?"

"I don't know."

"Alright. Yes, we'll just call it…a game. So, this is what we do. One person will be the 'person,' for a lack of a better translation. The others will go underwater. The people underwater cannot surface until one is caught, or they lose. The "person" must find a way to bring the others to the surface. One way or another."

"But…I cannot hold my breath for three minutes!"

"I suppose you'll have to be the 'person' then." Ruto said sanctimoniously.

"OK…" she said, although she was not wild about the idea of having to catch two Zoras…and possibly a rabid Hylian…_Ha, rabid. That's a good one…_She thought.

"You guys ready?" Kazana asked. Ruto nodded, taking Link's hand. Link looked at her, and nodded ever so slightly. Meghan stared at Kazana…then finally nodded. "Good! Alright, start!" The three of them dove under water around Meghan, leaving her stranded by herself. She saw them go all the way down to the bottom…there was no way she could go there without running out of breath!

She decided the easiest way to look for them was on top of the Water Temple. She lay down on her stomach and searched for one of them. She saw a Zora, though she was not sure which. She wasn't looking at Meghan, so Meghan tried to slip into the water as quietly as she could. She slid down on her stomach into the water.

"BlOOFblub!" was what came from her mouth as she went in the water.

"Hey!' A bubbly sound came. Ruto had spotted her, and was swimming away. Meghan tried to catch her, completely forgetting about running out of air as she tried to see Ruto in the water. The water stung her eyes badly. She realized finally, swimming upward. She was near the bottom, though. That was far, for her. She swam up as fast as she could, her lungs starting to plead for the air she needed, even though it was still a far way away. _Yet another time when the game could be SO inaccurate, it was never this deep! Just a bit more…please, a few more feet._

She kicked madly, even though she felt as though she was slowing down. Then she stopped kicking, and started just floating up, closing her eyes. _Whatever…_she felt light-headed. _I'll get there eventually…_

Then she felt a familiar arm, wrapping around her waist, the other swimming upward. She opened her eyes, looking at his face, which was looking forward instead of at her. "Iblub coblubuld hablubve dbluboneblub it mysbluelfblub" She tried to say, but the bubbles got the best of her. Also, she had no air left anyway to say it properly.

"Don't talk." He said, and to her surprise, she understood his bubbly talk. Finally she reached the surface.

"Aah!" She breathed deeply and quickly. Link let go of her, making sure she was all right. She wished he would go away, but he didn't. Of course he didn't.

"You win." He said, looking into the water.

"Uh…" she replied, unsure of him. He realized this and opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. Then, after a moment of awkward silence, he said,

"Look, Meghan. I'm sorry if I…offended you or anything. If I hurt you, before…I mean, you…know. I don't know…what happened…I just…" he faded away.

"Um…that's OK…I…think."

"Still friends?" He asked hopefully.

"Best friends." She said, taking his hand and shaking it. She was still wary of him though. Would he…try it…again?

"We should find them." He said, "To tell them that you won."

"Erm…"

"Or I could find them." He said dejectedly, "I forgot you can't stay underwater for too long."

"I can still help."

"No, it's OK. I won't take that long." And he dove down. She turned and swam to the top of the water temple.

She sat there, looking in the water, for any sign of Link, Ruto, or Kazana.

"MEGHAN!" Kazana said. The Zora pulled herself onto the land and walked to Meghan. She sat down with her feet in the water. "Did you win? Who did you catch? It wasn't Ruto, was it?"

"No."

"Link?"

"Yeah. Only he cheated for me."

"Oh. Well, it's just a stupid, little game, isn't it? It doesn't really matter."

"Mm-Hmm." She wondered how Link was doing, trying to catch a Zora who was bent on marrying him.

"You know, I wish Princess Ruto would stop chasing after Link and trying to marry him." Meghan nodded her approval. "I don't like it. You see, Ruto and I have been…friends since we were young. But my family is one of the last surviving families. My father is a Zora merchant; he works in and owns the Zora Shop. I think Ruto should marry my brother. He is smart and would be good for her. And he's not ugly, either. He's three years older than me, and was always the cutest. All the girls loved him!"

"So he would be good for her?"

"I think so."

"Have you asked him about it?"

"No. But I know he wouldn't think it's a bad idea. He thinks she's cute."

"Really? What does your brother look like?" Then she realized that that was a completely pointless question to ask. She wouldn't know a good-looking Zora from a bad looking one.

"Well, he's tall, taller than Ruto, and handsome, if I'm allowed to say that."

"Sure, why not? I would say the same about my brother." (My brother is cool! He's ten times more popular than I will ever be!)

Meghan's brother was two years older than herself. He was a popular, handsome, and funny senior. Everyone liked him. Everyone called him ED, even though that was not his real name. His real name was…

"So really, I can call him that?"

"Why not?"

"OK. So anyway, he's really… breathtaking. I love my brother! In fact, I should go get him. Wanna come?"

"Um…" she looked back into the water. She didn't want to leave without telling him…but… "Sure."

"Good! Come on!" She dove into the water. "Oh, wait. We need to go down into the temple. Can you get down there?"

"Um, I'm not sure."

"Oh. Wait, wait here! I'll be back!" She dove under and out of Meghan's sight. She hoped she came back before Link did, it would be awkward trying to tell him what they were going to do.

Luckily, Kazana returned before he did. She got out of the water with something behind her back.

"Ta da!" She said, pulling out a soggy Zora Tunic. "I got it from my dad."

"Cool!" Now she wouldn't have to worry about having to go underwater. She slipped it on over the clothes she was wearing (Which was hard even though it was big on her, as you might know if you ever tried to put on soaking wet clothes.) She expected to feel different, but she felt the same. Except for the fact that now she had a different shirt on. It was blue. _Yuck. Ah, well. I wear blue jeans, don't I?_

"OK, then. Let's go!" Kazana made a leap into the water.

**OK, OK, how did I do? Now you know why Link was bad, and some of Sierace's background.  
The character Kazana was a genius invention of my dear friend. I wanted her in my story, and a lot of what Kazana said was thought of by her. Strangely, we were at lunch at school when she thought of the name and conveniently named her after ketchup. Coincidently, my other friend, whose character will appear next chapter, also named her character after a food while we were on the bus home, without knowing the first friend had too. Odd, right? **

**Now I have one more favor to ask: PLEASE, PLEASE for the love of the threeGoddesses, PLEASE stop asking me if they are going to K- -S (You fill in the blanks!) I don't care what else you say, you can say ANYTHING! ANYTHING! Just don't say that small, LITTLE word. OK? ANYTHING BUT THAT! Any other word in the English dictionary! I promise it will come when I have been planning it since chapter ten! (Around there somewhere…)**

**Erm…I really talk too much…bye!**


	60. DAY SIX: PART TWO: Mayano and Ruto

I have returned! And guess what today is? Yep. It's my B-day! I hate my b-day. Because everyone is like…blah blah blah, and then ONE person actually remembers, and then tells everyone else, and then they're all like, "Happy BIRTHDAY!" and you're all like, " You're just saying that 'cause my REAL friend told you to." But I hate turning older.

Oh, yeah. And thank you to all my loyal reviewers…you guys make me so happy…I got my hundredth review in the last chapter…by Tizami…thanks guys…(Tears of joy)

Thelostzelda: Thanks! Oh, great. I'll fix it once I turn not-lazy. (Man am I lazy. I found so many mistakes in the last chapter. Too lazy to fix…)

Kat: Thank you, eew, gross, we discussed that, yes poor, poor Link, and thanks, I'll tell my friend you like her character. I told KK.

Serenity: Thank you! Yes. A true dork. You should see her in this here short chappie. Thank you for NOT asking, unlike SOME people…(And Kat's thing…disgusting.) (No offense, Kat)

Meowzi: No, not evil. Just…well…emotionally distressed. Here's your update!

Tizami: THANK YOU my 100th reviewer! And thanks for the word! Finish the quiz already!

Kitana: Thank you! And I shall check out your stuff!

DrippingInk: AAAAAAHHHHH! YOU! You said the K-word! How dare you! Prepare to get pelted with French toast! And thanks so much!

Here's super short chapter twenty-five:

"OK, then. Let's go!" Kazana made a leap into the water. Meghan followed. As soon as she entered the water, her whole body tingled. She stopped swimming down for a second, her legs and arms feeling a bit numb. But, to her surprise, she could breathe! She inhaled a bit of…water! And it was cold…the water went in her lungs, rushing around…it was the oddest experience! She couldn't believe it…but what happens when she gets out? And that temperature must not have been good for her alveoli…the requirements for a respiratory surface were moist, (Got that part) thin, and WARM. She didn't want to think of any consequences.

"Kazana?" she asked, catching up to the Zora girl. She surprised herself; her voice sounded odd underwater. "Where are we going?" Kazana was standing in front of the entrance to the Water Temple.

"In here!" She said, walking in. Meghan swam after her.

Inside was very different than what she expected…she had never been here, but it might have changed since Link had to awaken Ruto. It was beautiful, though. The water reflected on the walls, making them look like they were dancing. The climate was humid and warm, such as one you might find on a tropical island. Ruto waited for Meghan right at the entrance, then dove in the water. No more monsters plagued it. She dove to a door on the bottom floor. Kazana and Meghan entered it, and then had to swim back up again.

They came in a room that looked very much like a home. A Zora home, that is. What she would think a Zora home would look like. Strange, strange chairs were in front of her. They were a blue color, the color of water and matched the walls of the temple. She wasn't sure what they were made of though…they looked like plastic. But when was the last time she saw plastic here? She should really tell them about it…plastic is revolutionary in her world…

Kazana went around to a door. She gestured to Meghan excitedly. Meghan snuck over to the door. She heard…guitar music?

Kazana knocked on the door. "Mayano! Mayo! Open up the door!" Meghan had to hold back her laughter. This was just like her brother…except her brother played the bass. (Electric bass…) (My brother really does! He's going to be FAMOUS one day! ) (Psst it's pronounced MI-ya-no…the I is LONG)

"What do you want?" She heard an exasperated cry from inside. I'm busy!"

"Mayo, we need you to come so…well just come!" She heard a clonking noise, then footsteps. A second later, the door was open, and a Zora came to the doorway. In his right hand, he held a fishy guitar, (much like the one that Link has in Majora's Mask) and the left hand held the silver doorknob.

"What, Kaz?"

"We need you to come with us!" Mayano looked at them. Meghan felt odd…and if it was wrong to say this, she didn't care, but she honestly thought he was cute. For a Zora. His fishy "hair" stuff was in a Led Zeppelin style. He obviously had no shirt on…and WOW. Meghan felt so odd…

"Why? Why should I?" Kazana clucked.

"CAUSE you need to!" she said, taking the guitar out of one hand, and taking his with her other hand. She set the guitar in the doorway, and pulled him out. "Remember Ruto?"

"Ruto?" he said, with a dreamy expression. "I remember Ruto."

"Good, because that's who we're going to see." She pulled him back to the water. There was like a hole in the floor, only it was filled with water. That was where they had come from.

"Kazzy?" an older feminine voice asked. Meghan turned and looked to see who it was. "Where are you two going?"

"Going to play with Ruto, mom."

"May-may too?"

"Mom, STOP calling us that. Oh, and this is Meghan. Meghan, this is our mom, Lima." (Hint hint-this is the character my friend made…named after a lima bean!) Lima gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"NO!" she said in surprise. "Really?"

"It's the truth!" Kazana said. Lima made her way to Meghan, looking her in the eyes. She grabbed her hands with her fishy ones, and her eyes started to tear.

"My…you…thank you…" Meghan looked bewildered.

"Uh…who has been telling YOU the false info?"

"False info? Whatever do you mean?"

"Uh…what did I do?"

"You…you helped everyone! You made it so the Zora can be safe!"

"Not. Again. Listen, sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't do ANYTHING. Diddly-squat."

"I'm sure that's not true." She let go of her hands, still looking at her. "You children go have fun."

"Thank you, Mrs…"

"Lima. Just call me Lima." (Psst-It's pronounced Lee-ma, not Lima like the bean! ') "Kazzy, May-may, be back before dinner!"

Kazana and Mayo leaped in, and Meghan followed. They swam back down, then up again and exited the temple.

Once they had surfaced, they searched for Link and Ruto. They seemed to have disappeared…

"Alright, alright, while they're not around, here's the plan. We need to make Ruto feel left out. I'll go talk to Link, while Meghan talks to you." She looked at Mayo. "We can't let her in on our conversations, so if she comes close, walk away. We can't let either Link, or Ruto know. They'd mess it up."

"Here, here." Meghan agreed comically.

"When I say 'Break up,' we must break away. Mayo, go talk to Link, and I'll talk to Meghan. But don't make too big conversations, though. So she can come to choose. Ready, guys?"

"I finally get to have Ruto like m! You sure it will work, Kaz?"

"Yeah."

"One question. Where are the fiancé and fiancée?"

"That's a good question."

"They're ENGAGED?" Mayo yelled in distress.

"Technically, yeah. Against Link's will, yeah. But that's what this is for. To break them up!"

"Haha! I feel so evil!" Kazana comment.

"It's for both of their goods. Mostly Link…" Meghan noted. "So, I guess we have to find them. Where could they be?"

"Knowing Ruto…anywhere."

"This will not be a pleasant search."

"Indeed."

"Where do we start?" Mayo asked.

"Um…do you think Ruto would have brought him as far as Zora's Domain?" Meghan asked Kazana.

"Yeah."

"…K…so should we go look?"

"Split up. Mayo, you stay here. I'll go to the Domain. Meghan, you stay here with Mayo."

"Alright…"

"Let's go!" They started to separate.

"WAIT!" Meghan screamed. Mayo stopped mid-step and looked back, placing his foot down. "Look!" She pointed in the water. Sure enough, there was Link and Ruto. Link was swimming frantically away from her, and Ruto glided along, not really putting much effort into her swimming.

"Execute the plan NOW!" Mayo jumped in the water, and Kazana followed.

"Wait! What do I do?" She stood there for a second, and then went in the water. The first thing she saw was Mayo, stopping Ruto from swimming. Link was still going away, but Kazana caught him. They both pulled them to the surface. Kazana dragged Link to the shore, and Mayo dragged Ruto.

"Mayano?" Ruto asked Mayo. "Is that YOU?" He didn't't respond, but pulled her on the land. Meghan followed, and prepared to carry out the plan. Kazana was already talking to Link, who was very confused. Maybe they should tell him? Nah. Mayo let go of Ruto and made his way to Meghan.

"So…what…how are you lately, Um…"

"I'm fine, how are you, Meghan?"

"Good, Mayo. Thanks." Meghan saw Ruto from the corner of her eye. She was obviously upset that no one paid attention to her.

"Break up…" she heard Kazana say faintly. She caught her eye, and walked towards her. Mayo walked toward Link.

"It's working great." Kazana said to Meghan. "Ruto is taking the bait, now we just have to watch." Ruto looked longingly at both Link and Mayo.

The whole point was to get Ruto jealous, and if they were right, she would pick one. And probably that one would be Mayo. Just common sense…

Ruto looked from Link to Mayo. Then Mayo to Link.

"OH MAYO, I LOVE YOU!" She said, throwing herself at Mayo. "I always have, you're so…so for me! What was I doing?"

"Ha…ha…ha…" Mayo said, in a daze.

"Yes, now we can be together, for always! Always, and ever!"

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Kazana asked Meghan. "My brother. In love. And to think he never steps away from his guitar for more than an hour."

"Yeah." Meghan nodded a lot. "Awesome."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Um, Meghan, what just happened?" Link asked, walking towards Meghan. He noticed her Zora Tunic, but didn't comment.

"We saved you." Meghan said quietly. Link looked shocked.

"Thank you." He said, as though it were a big deal. Kazana had tears in her eyes.

"It's all so beautiful…" She whispered, looking at everyone. "Life is beautiful…"

And she watched as her brother took Ruto into his arms and kissed her on the lips…well, fishy lips. Meghan was really glad that Link was with his back towards them…that would have been too weird.

"Come on! Let's swim!" Kazana said, breaking up the moment. Meghan happily followed her into the water, Ruto following, and then the two boys.

Suddenly Meghan felt purged of all bad from that day…all that had happened…all the trouble…all Link's actions, all of her own…they seemed just in the past…and she had promised not to mourn for the past. She entered the water, Link behind her.

"Hi." She said as she turned around.

"Hey." He said.

"What's up?"

"Nothing…why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. Hey, let's forget anything wrong, anything awkward, and go swimming! Come on, isn't that why we came?"

"Yeah."

"Then come!" She ran to his side and grabbed his hand, and pulled him underwater. And since they could both breathe, Meghan swam all the way to the bottom.

"You can breathe." He said, once again taking notice of her tunic.

"Yeah."

"Awesome."

"And I can talk too."

"More awesome."

"Yep." Meghan swirled around in the water, trying to stay down by stroking upward. She turned when she heard some noise in the water, (Try to imagine this whole underwater scene… . )

When she had turned around, she recognized the Iron Boots on Link. (Suddenly! GASP! Sorry, I'm sugar high at the moment.) He grabbed her so she wouldn't have to worry about floating anymore.

"It's fun being able to breathe here. I'm still trying to figure out how we are talking, but you know. It must be magic."

"Must be." He said, laughing a watery, bubbly laugh. Being so close to him, she could feel the water being pushed from his mouth as he spoke. Yeah, the water got in her mouth, but she was inhaling it, so it wasn't that gross or anything.

"Any idea what time it is?"

"No." he responded. "Must be somewhere between 13:00 and 15:00."

"That late?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Do you think we should leave? Oh, and I think I may shrivel up like a prune if I stay down here for much longer. And I still have no idea how we're talking."

"I told you, it's the magic. And what's a prune?"

"It's a fruit. A disgusting tasting fruit."

O.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.oO.o

A prune! (Slaps knees) Too funny! I'm telling you, I'm caffeine and sugar high! Cause I had cake, coffee, lots of sugar in the coffee…and about three mini-hamburger thingies! (Don't ask…)

_**Oh. OK. And here is the challenge. Can you guess how old I am? No, seriously. Go ahead and guess! I won't laugh, I swear, if you're wrong! Please give me at least an estimate, like 10-56, only shorter ranges! PLEASE? As a present? **_

BYE! I do hope you enjoyed. Ah, yes. And Lima is a Lima bean. Mayo is Mayonnaise, and the dad will be…oh, I don't know. Gotta ask my friend tomorrow! (P.S.-EVANESCENCE ROCKS! I GOT THE PIANO TRIBUTE CD TODAY! )


	61. DAY SIX: PART THREE:At Least We’ll Know ...

**DID YOU GUYS MISS ME? I BET YOU DID! SO sorry for the long wait! Me has been busy and the whole deal. I'm going to blab a bit before you get to read the chapter, so:**

**THE WINNERS of the Birthday Challenge are: Meowzi, DrippingInk, Kat, and myself, of course. If you can't figure it out, I'll tell you. They had it right. (Psst- Meowzi's review isn't there, but she said 14 or 15. That should make it obvious) (remember, everyone else's was wrong, so it shows you! ) I feel so special when people think I'm older than I really am. (Ahem-this is sorta the reason why nothing too romantic has happened yet…AHEM! KAT! AHEM!)**

**Now for some answers:**

**Serenity: Thank you for the Happy b-day! I am now (See above) and one month! Today! It sucks! Yes, yes, finally Ruto has a BF! And I decided not to put their dad in. Dunno why.**

**Bluedranzer77: HELLO NEW REVIEWER! I THINK! Yes, I'm right! Anyway, thanks SO much! Yes, I often wonder how Link would too.**

**DrippingInk: O.o…just you wait until…never mind. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Does Meghan talk too much? Yes, she talks too much…(Starts talking)**

**Tizami: Hmm…my friends are weird…but then again, I'm probably the weirdest! Thank you, and did you get the results? I sent them. I hope you found your caffeine! Did I mention I wrote a report on the bad of caffeine? (Drinking 80 to 100 cups in rapid succession can cause you to die)**

**Kat: (Sniffle) I didn't mean to pick on you! I just find it fun. (OK, so I did mean it) Thankies! I'll have the next chapter of Magic to you…probably very soon.**

**Meowzi: I don't remember what you said, but thanks anyway! What happened to your account? I was like, WHERE'D MEOWZI GO? I wanted to read a chapter of one of your stories! (Sniffle)**

**Um…and…I…think…that's…it…**

"OK…"

"Come on." She pulled herself free of Link and swam up. "Let's go fishing!" She went as fast as she could to the little spot with the fishing person. She pulled herself up there, and then turned around, waiting for Link. He was a bit behind her. When he finally caught up, she ran and opened the door. He caught it from her and held it while she went in. (Aw, so sweet! XD too hyper again…)

"HI!" An exuberant welcome came from the dude. He rushed from behind the counter and stood in front of them, barely inside the room yet. "Are you going to fish?"

"Um…Yeah?" Meghan said, asking it like a question.

"Alright! That will be twenty rupees…unless you want two rods, then it's forty…"

"One. Please." Meghan said. He scratched his armpit. Meghan made a face while he wasn't looking.

"Alright!" He ran back behind the counter and bent down, picking out a rod. He came back up and they walked over. "You guys know how to fish?"

"Yes." Link said.

"Good! You caught this fish here! Oh right! You're my best angler!" he scratched his armpit. Meghan winced. "Well, go fish! What are you waiting for?"

"OK! OK! OK!" Meghan said, grabbing the rod from Link and running towards the water. "Go fishing rod!" She brought it up over her head and then downward. The funny part was nothing happened. She grinned, embarrassed. "Ah…whoops…I don't know how to fish." Link walked over.

"I can teach you."

"Right! Please, teach me!" He went behind her, and put his arms around her to get to the fishing pole. She immediately pulled herself within herself. He put her hands on the right spots and told her how to do it, moving her hands with his own as he pulled it back and cast it.

"Good job!" He said in her ear.

"But I didn't do it!"

"Yes, you did. Try it without my help." He let go. Meghan reeled it back in and did the same thing he did. It was surprisingly easy, now that she knew what she was doing. "Good!" She rested on one foot, leaning to the side while waiting for a fish to come.

TEN MINUTES LATER, IN A DIFFERENT SPOT…

"GAAH! Boring! I can't take this anymore!" She thrust the rod back at Link. "YOU catch a fish!" She stood back and crossed her arms. She hadn't gotten anything, and was beginning to become impatient. Not that she had been there very long. Yet, it seemed so…long...and boring. She began to regret coming here.

"Fine." He took it, and within a few minutes, had a small fish.

"LOOKS LIKE FIVE POUNDS!" The guy called from his spot behind the counter.

"What? Why can't I ever catch a fish? They hate me!" She remembered when she was little, maybe nine or ten, her father and brother and her had gone fishing, when they were in their summerhouse in Turkey. Meghan hadn't caught anything, but her dad and brother did. But in the end, they fed the fish to the cats that always roam Turkey. (Have any of you ever been there? They have cats everywhere you go! CATS CATS CATS!)

"It's probably because they sense that you are impatient. Relax." He threw the fish back into the water and walked over to Meghan, setting the rod on the ground. "You need to let them know you have no intentions of hurting them." She nodded. He put his hand on her shoulder, an odd thing to do, Meghan decided, especially considering what he tried to do before…and what he just did. "And you need to be patient. They'll come when they decide to come." She nodded again. He picked up the rod, and handed it to her. "Try again."

"OK." She went to the water's edge, and cast it again. After a few minutes, she groaned. "They still hate me!"

"Relax." He said, coming behind her, gently putting his hands on her back. "They can sense it…I can too…" He traced his hands down her arms, sending shivers and tickles up her. His hands weren't cold—no, they weren't at all. They were actually warm, but…

She still shivered. She was half expected him to do something…but this was more what she expected than before.

Suddenly, she felt a jerk.

"AH! Fish!" She reeled in the thing, pulling, pulling, and pulling…

"Come on! Do it!"

"AAAH! Evil fish!" She had it so close…

"Come on! Pull!"

"I am!" She pulled it out of the water.

"Good job!"

"Looks like two pounds!" Meghan laughed.

"All that work for nothing. Oh well." She tossed it back in. "You wouldn't be too horribly displeased if I said that I wanted to go, would you, Link?"

"No."

"Can we go?"

"Sure. Just got to bring this back." Link took the rod from her, and brought it back to the guy.

"What? You're leaving? But I never get any customers!"

"Here." Meghan said, dumping some rupees onto his desk. "This one is Mr. Bob," she pointed to a red rupee, then to a purple one, "and this is Mrs. Bobbett. These are your most loyal customers now." The guy stared at her. "Bye bye!"

"Uh…bye?" Meghan closed the door behind her, and ran outside, doing a cannonball in the water.

"WEEE!"

TWO HOURS LATER…

"Guys, I think I should go start to help my mother make dinner." Kazana said to the rest of them. She turned to Mayo. "Hey, Mayo, are you going to be there? Or should I tell mom you have plans?" She snickered a bit.

"Could you do that?" Mayo asked, holding Ruto's hand.

"Mayo, that was sarcasm. But sure anyway." Kazana said, slightly disappointed.

"Come on, Mayo. Let's go…" Ruto said to Mayo, pulling his hand. Mayo nodded. Ruto used her magic to teleport, and then they were gone, leaving Meghan and Link with Kazana.

"We'll see you, Kazana." Meghan said. Kazana nodded.

"Yeah, bye." Link said.

"Bye! Maybe I'll see you again soon!"

"I hope!" Kazana moved into the water. She swam for a bit, then surfaced. "Oh, yeah! Call me Kaz! All my best friends did!" She went under again, and disappeared.

"_All my best friends did!"_ were the words that lingered in Meghan's mind. _That's so sad…did! That means that her friends must…have…_

"Meghan? Are you ready to go?"

"Where?"

"I don't know…wherever. I was thinking we could…go…a lot of places. Everywhere…"

"To say goodbye, you mean?"

"Well, yes…and no…because we might not be."

"But just in case, right?"

"No."

"No meaning yes, right?"

"Um…"

"It's OK. I want to, too. Let's go."

"I just have to get my things."

"Oh yeah! Me too." She walked across the bridge to the spot over the Water Temple, picking up her sword and pack. Link picked up his sword. "Wait!"

"What?"

"Meghan wants to see something!" she said, referring to herself in third person.

"What would you like to see?"

"Sword," was her one word answer.

"What do you want to see about my sword?"

"Fun." She hopped over to him, lifting the sword from his hands. "I wanna see how heavy it is compared to what it felt like a few days ago." She pulled it completely from his hands.

"Wait, hold on!" He said as she almost fell forward. He grabbed it from her hands. "Why…"

"Because." She said, pulling out her own sword and pointing it at him. "I challenge you."

"You keep doing that." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if we don't fight then we will become rusty and I'm already really rusty to begin with so we need to practice! Or am I too easy for you to practice with?" She made a face. "'Cause if that's the case-"

"No! You're not. It's just you like to suddenly ask me things and sometimes it shocks me. That's all, really."

"'K, so do you except my challenge?"

"Yes. I accept."

"Come on then!" She ran over the bridge back to the main land, hopping to turn around as soon as she got far enough. Link was still crossing the first part of the bridge. "Yo, slow poke! Hurry!"

Eventually, he got to her. "Finally! Now, just like the other day!"

"OK." They both drew their swords and got into fighting positions. He realized now that it was not worth it to go _too_ easy on her…she needed her practice too, right?

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"GO!" Meghan ran forward towards Link, making a large horizontal swing at him. He parried, and swung at her. She jumped back, and then slashed vertically. He blocked it, and deflected it to the side. Meghan decided to make her fighting style even more unorthodox, and brought her leg up to try to kick him. She attempted a kick near his face, completely on impulse. She used her right leg.

He crossed his right hand over to meet the kick, catching her foot. She nearly lost her balance, but he still didn't let go.

"That was good. But I completely saw it coming."

"Hey, skip the flames and get to the constructive criticism."

"OK. But before I let go, I just need to tell you that, had I wanted to, I could have twisted your leg and tripped you. That would have left you on the floor, which would have left you open for an attack while you were recovering and trying to regain a normal stance. Avoid such things in the future. Now, if you didn't want me to see that, use a kick to follow an effective prior attack, or when the guard is not as high. That way, if I was slightly knocked back, I wouldn't have time to either see or effectively guard against the kick."

"Wow. See, Shina is really not a good fighter. I kicked him. Of course, that WAS after I punched him and hurt myself in the process, but still. For the head of the Princess's Guard, he's pretty bad at fighting."

"Yes." He let go of her foot slowly. She shook her hair from her face, which was now dry because they hadn't gone in the water for some time now, and was starting to fall out of its style.

"OK. Now what do I do?"

"Whatever you feel like doing."

"'K." She let her sword relax. She walked up to him.

"What are you doing? Wh-" but she interrupted him by swinging her sword and stopping it by his neck. She had herself pressed up against him.

"Move and I'll hurt you."

"Meghan!"

"Ha ha! You are SO gullible!"

"You can let go now."

"No I can't. I don't trust you. Do something about it." She touched the sword to him.

"OK." He took his left hand and grabbed her wrist. Then he put his hand around her waist, twisting her around, and her arm, so that her back was to him. He held her arm behind her back, pulling her wrist up.

"Hey!" Had he pulled any harder, her arm would start to hurt. Pull enough, and he could have seriously did something… "I get it!"

"See, normally that would not work. But on you, it works."

"HEY! What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that because you tend to favor me and did not intend to hurt me, your so called threatening position lost its purpose. You were easy to move and manipulate."

"You sounded very smart there." He made a face. "Just getting even. You know I was kidding."

"Of course."

"Shall we continue?"

"By all means." He attempted to hit her, but she jumped back.

"See? I'm getting better."

"One day I will be able to use my full strength with you."

"You're not?" Even now he seemed strong. She couldn't imagine what it was like…oh wait! She saw that when he cut Twinrova's head off…

FLASHBACK…

He jumped back to the center, once more targeting with the help of Navi. He charged up on fire again. Twinrova fell again, this time he became even fiercer. He slashed the monster. He slashed again. Then again. Meghan winced. She did NOT EVER want to be on the receiving end of that sword.

Yeah, I know what it's like… 

"Hey, Link?"

"Yes?" There was a pause.

"I GOT YOU!" she said as she lunged forward, hitting his sword. "Now that that urge is satisfied, we should have a normal battle, you know? 'K?"

"I agree."

"All right then! Let us begin!"

"OK." They stood apart, circling each other. Meghan made the first move, Link blocking it. They continued for a while.

After some time, Meghan slashed weakly at Link, and he blocked it. She was breathing heavily, and they were sweating. She took in a deep breath.

"I...give up!"

"Come on, don't give up!"

Meghan flopped on the ground. "No, really…I'm too tired." She dropped the sword on the floor and lay on her back.

"OK. Come on…" He sat next to her, also dropping his sword on the floor…making a huge clatter sound.

"Clumsy…"

"Sorry." He interlaced his fingers behind his head and lay back beside her on the floor. They stared up into the sky.

"I could stay here forever."

"So could I."

"The sky is so beautiful." And it was true. The sun was off to the side, not too bright, but warm. She could feel its warmth on her face, and a small breeze refreshing her worn out body.

"Yes." He agreed, looking up into it as well.

"Weren't we going to go somewhere?"

"Does it matter now?"

"I guess not." She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply the moist lake air around her. She could smell the flowers, feel the grass, hear the birds, and taste the beauty…but see nothing.

It was a wonderful feeling.

Unbeknownst to her, Link had also closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had just sat somewhere and closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirp…feel the wind blow…

"Weren't we going to go…somewhere?" Meghan asked again.

"Oh, yeah." Link laughed. "Should we?"

"If you want to. But I like laying here."

"Me too."

"We'll get up on the count of three."

"OK."

"One."

"One."

"Two."

"Two."

"THREE"

"Three." But neither of them got up. Meghan did open her eyes, though.

"That was very ineffective."

"Yeah."

"Three!" But neither of them got up again. Finally, Link had the COURAGE to move. He sat up with difficulty.

"Come on." He held his hand out to Meghan and pulled her into a sitting position. Then they got up.

"That took a lot of effort. But now I feel all…" she stopped.

"What? What's the matter?"

"I feel sad."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to go! And it's so sad knowing that that moment will never come again, not one second will ever be relived…"

"Not entirely true."

"For you, maybe. But for me, it's completely true." She sighed deeply. "But I guess…it doesn't matter!" she said, returning to her normal self. "Come on! Do you think Malon will let me see Galaxy? I wanna!"

"Why not? Come on." They ran toward the exit of the lake. Meghan climbed the ladder first, followed by Link.

When they reached the ranch, Meghan ran as fast as she could inside. She first ran to the paddock, to see if Galaxy was there.

"Malon!" Meghan said, seeing Malon grooming a horse in a corner, humming Epona's Song.

"Hello there, Meghan!"

"Malon, we were wondering if we could borrow Galaxy again." Link asked for Meghan.

"Of course! You know you can. He's around here somewhere." She looked out to where most of the horses were. "Oh! There he is!" Meghan ran forward to get him. Galaxy looked up at her from his grazing position.

"Hi, boy!" Galaxy nickered his hello. "How ARE you?" Galaxy sniffed her outstretched hand. "Hey, do you want to come with me?" Galaxy walked toward her. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Meghan, his tack is in the tack room."

"Thanks, I'll get it." Meghan walked over to the stables, and entered the side door. Inside were many saddles, each hanging on their own thing. Each saddle was labeled with a silver plaque on the wall near it. She walked until she saw a new, shiny plate with something written on it. Too bad it was in Hylian…but she knew that saddle because it matched Galaxy perfectly and the plate was obviously new. Galaxy had just gotten his name, so it fit. She removed the saddle from its hangy thing (I don't know what that thing is called) and bridle from its hook on the wall right next to it and carried them back outside.

If you've ever carried a saddle, you know it's heavy. But Meghan wasn't really thinking of its weight as she lugged it back to Galaxy.

"Hey, boy! Stay still!" She fit the saddle right on his withers, attaching the girth to one side and then going to the other to attach it to the buckle on the other side. She tightened it REALLY tight…

Next, she quickly removed the halter and slipped on the bridle. Galaxy didn't like having the bit in his mouth too much. She'd have to tell Malon to get him one without it. He didn't need that much control. And they did make those kinds, where she was from, anyway.

Finally she was done. She led the gelding (She thought he was a gelding…) over to Link. Link had gotten Epona while she was getting Galaxy ready, so he was waiting with her.

"Ready?"

"Yup." She answered. She pulled herself onto Galaxy's back, as Link did the same with Epona. "Thank you, Malon! Bye bye!"

"Bye! Have fun with him!"

For a second there, Meghan became confused as to what "him" she was talking about.

"Where should we go first?" Link asked as they left the ranch.

"I don't know…I want to go everywhere, but we really don't have that much time."

"Of course we do. We have plenty of time."

"_Time_," she whispered. "Let's go…"

"Let's see the Gerudos."

"NO!"

"I knew you'd say that. But come on, we can't just skip over them."

"Can't we go see the Gorons or something?"

"No."

"WHY NOT?"

"Because. Let's see the Gerudos."

"Nooooo…" she moaned.

"Don't worry. We're just going to visit them."

"Fine. Come on Galaxy! Let's not waste any time!"

"OK." Meghan and Link pushed their steeds into gallops. Meghan multi-tasked and let her hair down, while riding. The wind blew it back and styled it for her. Awesome.

Some time later, they arrived at the Valley. They crossed the little bridge thing, which gave Meghan some trouble with Galaxy not wanting to go over it, then the big one.

They arrived in the fortress area and saw Narma on duty right there.

"HI!" Narma screamed, running over to meet Meghan. "How HAVE you been, dear?"

"Uh…fine…" Now she could tell Link was regretting even coming here. He had forgotten that the Gerudos tended to ignore him.

"I'm fine, how are you, Narma?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine. This is my new post. I used to be up there," she pointed to the top of the fortress, "And hardly got anything to do. But now here, I'm catching people like crazy!"

"I see."

"So what brings you here?"

"Um…"

"Nothing, really. Just passing through." Narma seemed to notice that Link was there now.

"Did you come to see Nabooru, Meghan?"

"No."

"Because I don't think she's here. I think she went to do something with the other sages or something."

"I wasn't looking for her."

"I can tell her when she comes back…"

"I WASN'T LOOKING for her."

"OK, then! Hey, do you want to come inside? I can get somebody else to watch my post. I'm in good favor with Nabooru, so I can do practically whatever I want!"

"No, I think we'll LEAVE now," she said, stressing the "leave" so Link could understand. He got it.

"Yeah, we're going to go."

"Oh, but you only just arrived!"

"No, we were here for a while. We're so sneaky that you didn't see us, though."

"Darn! Well, I'll see you two!"

"Bye."

"Bye." They left in a hurry. Meghan quickly mounted Galaxy and rode off in the opposite direction. Once they were back in the valley, she turned her head towards Link like something from _The Exorcist_. "Link. I TOLD YOU!"

"I know! But whatever. Let's get out of here."

"Thank you goddesses." She pushed Galaxy into a canter, exiting the valley.

"Where to next?"

"GORONS! Or…maybe?"

"Sure, why not?"

"COOL! Except I hope they aren't bowling again!"

"Yeah. That was a little on the odd side."

"Yeah. Come on Galaxy! WEEE!" They rode all the way across the field, which took about half an hour.

Finally they had arrived in Kakariko.

"Wait, don't you think we should look around Kakariko Village first, and then go up there?"

"Right. Yeah." Meghan ran up the steps after leaving Galaxy. Link followed right behind.

"Hi again, Kakariko!" she yelled to nothing. "How ARE you?"

"Kakariko says its fine." Link answered. Meghan giggled.

"Well, Kakariko, what shall I do here?"

"You should let Link buy you that necklace you liked so much." Meghan made a false angry face at him.

"No. Kakariko. You're wrong. I shouldn't."

"Yes, you should."

"NO."

"YES."

"NEVER listen to a town, Link! They're EVIL! EVIL, I tell you!"

"Really?"

"YES! DON'T LISTEN!"

"OK. I won't listen to you. Come on Kakariko; let's go buy it. Meghan says not to listen to her."

"NO! Please don't!" But he kept walking. "Link! Don't! No! Please! Please? PRETTY PLEASE? NO!" She ran after him. She grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "No!"

"Yes." He said, removing her hand with little effort as he normally did.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're just showing off." He stopped.

"What?"

"Show. Off."

"No."

"Yeah. Really. And YOU know it!"

"You think I'M a show off?"

"Yeah."

"You really think I am?" he said, walking toward her.

"Yeah." She said, not backing away. He looked over her in that threatening-yet-it's-not-supposed-to-scare-you way. They looked into each other's eyes menacingly before breaking into a fit of laughter.

"OK, OK. You got me."

"Yeah, I better have. You weren't going to by that if it was the last thing I did." His smile faded as he looked toward her.

"Don't say that, come on. It's not that big of a problem, and you know it."

"But I still don't want it."

"OK." He said, in a disbelieving way. She didn't get his hint of disbelieving.

"Good." She sniffed.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, my nose is just running a bit."

"Oh."

"I'll see you, Kakariko." Meghan waved to nothing in the middle of the town, halfway up some of the steps. "Before I leak, let's go see the Gorons."

"OK." Link and Meghan ran up the stairs, up more stairs, then through the no longer functional gate to Death Mountain. They joked about their last experience with the Gorons while going up the mountain. Meghan remembered how weird Darunia was when she played Saria's Song, and Link remembered the weird bowling thing.

"Look! Gorons!" Meghan said when they entered Goron City. All the ones who heard her turned her way. She became very unlike herself and shouted to all of them, "HI! You know me, right? Well I just wanted to say hi!" Link smiled beside her.

"HI!" Some of them said in their bubbly, Goron voices. Others didn't hear her. She spotted Gordley.

"Hi!"

"Hello!" He said to her, sitting up. "Do you want to hear another joke?" Meghan was about to decline, but changed her mind.

"OK."

"Why did the fairy seek help?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"It needed help! Boy, wasn't that a good one!" Meghan laughed once.

"Eh-heh. Yeah. That was great! Did you make that one too?"

"Yes! Yes I did."

"Great. We'll see you, Gordley."

"Alright. Bye!"

"Bye, Gordley." Meghan and Link quickly walked away.

"That was pretty scary."

"I agree."

"Wow. Let's say hi to all the others!" Meghan walked to the first Goron she saw. "HI! What's your name?" It told her something she didn't quite understand. "That's so cool! Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Yeah, Bye!"

"Hey! What's your- oh, wait! I know you! Duh!" It was Link! "Good to see you Link!"

"Hi Meghan! Hi Link! Oh! Cool! Hi! I didn't expect you to come here!"

"Sorry. We just came unannounced!"

"Oh, well. My dad's not here right now. But you can come with me!"

"Um…well…"

"Or we can go somewhere else. Do you want me to introduce you to everyone?"

"OK." Meghan and Link said at the same time.

"Awesome! Come on! This is Gordley…"

"We know him."

"Right." Link introduced them to all the Gorons around. "And this is the Shop Keeper." He said finally.

"Wow. That's a lot of Gorons."

"Yes. But I know them all, because one day I will be their Big Brother!"

"Yes. And you'll…be a good brother!"

"I hope so! I want to be as respected as my father!"

"I'm sure you will be."

"Yes." Link agreed.

"Thank you, Link. Thank you, Meghan."

"Your welcome." Link said. Goron Link beamed.

"Well…Link…I think we have to go." Both Links nodded. Meghan laughed. "Oh…right. Um, yes we do! Link…um…Brother…Goron Link…I hope I see you again soon."

"Yeah, Meghan." Meghan leaned down for a hug. Ouch. _Remind me to never do that again…_she rubbed herself. Link kneeled down and put his hand on Link's shoulder.

"Link, take care of yourself. You'll be great one day. We'll see you." Link (Goron Link) nodded slowly and solemnly.

"I really hope to see you again. Father told me what was going to happen. Well, he wasn't sure, but he said it's what all the sages were saying. They think that's what's going to happen." Meghan decided that this would be a good source for accurate information. Link would tell them exactly what his dad said, and wouldn't edit it according to their feelings.

"What'd he say?" Link asked before Meghan had a chance to.

"He said that they think Meghan will die." Meghan froze, staring into Link's (Hylian Link's) face. He averted his eyes and looked down.

"I see." Link said quietly. "See you." Meghan didn't move, even as Link turned. He put his arm around he back, touching his left hand to her left arm and grabbing her right hand. He guided her away from Link. When they were out of earshot of Link, Link said, "I'm sure he's just being dramatic. There's nothing to worry about. He's just a kid." He said, this, but he thought about it. Link probably wouldn't tell them something that wasn't true. And the sages were not likely to be wrong. Especially Zelda.

"That's not what I'm worried about." She said quietly, untangling herself from him. She turned toward him. She was up one step from him, so their faces were closer together than usual. "I'm worried about you." Link didn't know what to say. If he said "Why?" then it would seem like he was ungrateful, or if he said, "Don't be worried about me," he would seem too… wrong to say that.

Luckily, he didn't have to say anything. "I'm worried…I don't know exactly why, but I'm afraid that I'm not the only one who will get hurt. I mean, I'm going to be right there with you, when you put the sword back, but YOU'RE the one putting it back." He nodded. "But please…I don't want to think about it." She turned and started to walk up the steps. "_Let's have fun…"_ she whispered. She pushed her hair behind her ear, and didn't even stop when she got to the top floor of the city. She didn't stop when she exited, either. The whole time, Link was right behind her.

"Meghan." He said finally, when she was walking down the path. "Please, stop for a moment." She slowed, and then stopped. She didn't turn to look at him, though. He walked to her, then in front of her. She looked down at the ground. "It's OK if you're upset."

"No! Fun…we must not remember it. Come on." She stepped to the side to get around him, but he took her by the wrist. The thought of what he did triggered a memory…

FLASHBACK…

"You sick people! Let me go!" She said, as she tried to get out the door. Link moved aside, but within a split second of her moving out the doorway, he had her wrist in a tight grip. She stopped. "LET GO!" she struggled against his strong grip and tried to get free, but soon realized that this was a swordsman's grip, it didn't let go for anything. She sank to her knees.

Meghan sank to her knees again. This time, Link went down with her. She refused to cry, though. She didn't want to. She sniffed and blinked like trying to stop. She was in a position, kneeling down, where she leaned forward and almost touched her chest to her knees. She looked down at the ground. Link had one of his hands gripped around her wrist, the other holding her other hand. The arm holding her wrist was wrapped around her back, so they were sitting next to each other.

"I never want to go back."

"You don't have to."

"But what if that's what happens?"

"I don't think it will."

"You think I'm going to die?"

"No…I think…that…you're going…to stay with me, no matter what happens."

"Where are you going?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"Well, at least I'll know someone in…wherever I'm going." He didn't comment, but turned his head away from her, and she didn't see.

Meghan sat there, Link being as supportive as she needed. After a while, Link made a move to go somewhere. Anywhere but here.

"Meghan, do you want to go?" She nodded her head, still in her awkward position. Then she slowly got up. She unwrapped herself from Link, and turned toward him.

How so very embarrassing that was.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Um…why can't you choose for once? I really don't know. I was never that good at making decisions…until you kept making me make them."

"Because you're better at it than I will ever be."

"No."

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Really?" He didn't answer. Instead, he smiled. He tried not to laugh, but it was really hard. Meghan couldn't hold it though. She began laughing hysterically. (A/N- this was an actual conversation I had with my mom. I told her I would put it in my story because it was so funny when we had it…I was the "Really? No!" part…in case you couldn't figure that out.)

"Wow. We sure can have meaningless conversations when we want to."

"Yeah."

"Really. That was stupid." He nodded in agreement. "So, are you going to choose?"

"Maybe."

"Come on."

"Let's just go back to Kakariko for now."

"OK."

"We'll decide what to do from there."

"Yeah."

"Good." They turned and walked down the mountain. Rather, Meghan skipped down and Link walked quickly to keep up with her.

Although a smile lightened her face, and she skipped as happily as a clam, Link could tell there was something oddly artificial about her happiness. It seemed like she was forcing the smile, forcing her cheerful body movements.

"Meghan?"

"Yeah?" She stopped skipping and turned around, her hair fanning out and landing over her shoulder. She had a large smile across her face.

"Um…you know, if you…I can tell that you are a…um…upset, if that's the correct word to use, and you don't have to pretend to be OK. Because it's OK to be upset…"

Scratch that "As supportive as she needed him to be" line.

"What? I'm not upset! We have, like, a WHOLE day. Like, twenty-four hours."

"Yes, but—"

"HEY! Lookie lookie! It's KAKARIKO! We were just there about an hour ago!"

"Yes, we were." Sometimes he just really did not get her.

"Cool! You agree! Let's see! Do you have your bow?"

"Yes."

"LET'S GO TO THE SHOOTING PLACEY THING!"

"…OK." He followed her to the Shooting Gallery. She threw the door open and ran inside.

"Did you miss me?" She asked the man at the counter. He stared at her with his big, creepy eyes. Meghan hated to admit it, but he sort of smelled. It must be from wearing the same outfit all the time…

"Do you want to play or what?" He asked gruffly.

"Yes! That's why we came here!"

"Pay up." He said, directing his words to Link. He obviously figured out Link was the money cache. And Meghan had spent all her money on giving the fisherman guy friends. Link sighed, not because he was reluctant of giving up the money, but because the guy had been a bit rude about it.

"Here." He said, slapping the money down on the counter, and didn't remove his hand from on top of it. He stared into the huge guy's eyes. The guy frowned.

"What, do you not want to shoot some stupid targets and deprive me of all the money I've ever owned? Move your hand!"

"No."

"Why not?"

Link smiled a very mischievous smile. "Because you were rude and you need to repent." He said in Hylian.

"Why? And how?" Meghan's smile faded, but Link retained his own smile.

"I challenge you to arm wrestling." (Of course he says this the way a Hylian would say it, not in that context.)

"What did you say?" Meghan asked.

"That girl does not speak our language?"

"Of course she does. She's just a little hard of hearing at times." Linked laughed deviously.

"I accept your challenge."

"Link? What did you just say? Was that a joke? That was an evil laugh. I've never really heard you laugh so evilly."

"He said he accepts my challenge."

"What challenge?" Link laughed once (Like, "heh"), flipped his hair back, (Which Meghan had never seen him do) (Like he does in Super Smash Brothers melee, you know? Only not so gaily) and removed his hand from the rupees. He moved them to the side and propped his elbow up on the counter.

The other guy did the same, eyeing the money. His arm was easily two times larger than Link's, but from Meghan's point of view, she couldn't tell if it was muscle, or just fat.

"Link…are you going to arm wrestle him?" She said, looking over his shoulder. He looked back at her as the guy grabbed his hand.

"What's arm wrestle?"

"Um…just…never mind. Go on…Wait, I'm scared. What?" He smiled.

"Wait and see." Meghan went over to the side of him.

"Do you want me to say 'start'?"

"…Sure, go ahead."

"OK. Ready…set…GO!" The guy's huge arm immediately flexed. For a second, Link's arm went to the side a bit and it seemed that he had the upper hand. But that only lasted a few seconds. Link immediately turned it around and brought the guy's arm to the other side. He held it at about forty-five degrees, but with a sudden movement, slammed his hand down onto the counter. Link almost immediately let go. The guy removed his hand and stared at Link, who smiled.

He knew Meghan was watching.

Who could resist showing off?

"Yay! Good job, both of you!" She said this even though she knew in the beginning (Not that it lasted long) Link was just teasing him. He could have won in a second, had he wanted to.

"Free…game." He stammered. Link slid the money off the counter, into his hand.

"Why thank you." Link pulled out his bow and handed it to Meghan. "Here."

"Thanks." She took it and took the arrows given to her. Little did she know, the owner was scheming…

He set the pattern of the rupees so they went extra fast, and in all different directions.

"READY! GO!" He started the game. The first rupee streamed fast by Meghan, and she barely saw it.

"Hey! What was that?"

"Watch, another one!" The man laughed. Meghan glared at him. Another one, red, came by.

"You stupid piece of sh-t!" She yelled. "What, are you that sore of a loser?" (Ah…evil bad words again! What's wrong with me? (Cries))

Link looked mad. He turned to face the man as another one came by. Meghan watched it go by with a snarl on her face. She made a fist and stepped so her feet were shoulder width apart. She slid her arm in the bow, so it was around her shoulder and it would stay there.

"No one does this to me and lives without a hole in their…place!"

And as though she only just remembered she could do so, she held out her right hand, palm facing the area where the targets were, and placed her left hand over the back of her right. "Forget you ever had a business here!" At that moment, Link turned his head to see what Meghan was doing. He knew that position…

With a flick of her head, she yelled the words, "FURY BLAST!" But Link was obviously quicker than she. He knocked her hand out of the way, also knocking her down accidentally.

"Whoa!' he said, twisting himself around so he wouldn't fall on her. Instead…it was sort of the other way around…

The blast went into the floor, somehow doing no damage. Meghan landed right on him, her back to his chest. She quickly rolled off.

"Oh, my gosh! Are you OK?" He had his eyes closed in pain. He slowly opened them.

"Yeah…I just fell on my sheath."

"Ouch." She agreed, helping him up. The first thing Link noticed was the door was open. In their silence, they could hear faint cries,

"THEY'RE NOT HYLIAN!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, I'M NOT!" Meghan said, jumping up and making a fist again. "You shouldn't try such things!" She turned back to Link. "Am I the only one who found that oddly strange?" She smiled.

"No."

"Well, let's go! Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Cool. You sure?"

"Yes."

"Cool. Come on, then! Let's go see Galaxy!" They walked out of the building and out of Kakariko. It was getting dark, but they didn't care. Meghan ran over to Galaxy.

"Hi GalGal!"

"GalGal?"

"Yeah, it's a nickname! Like Mister Hylian!"

"You haven't called me that in a long time," he said, rubbing Epona. She sniffed him. Meghan tended to Galaxy, who snorted in her ear.

"Ow…loud…" she pushed his face away, and then rubbed his velvety nose. "Silly horsy."

"Where do you want to go now?" Link asked quietly.

"I don't know…" she said as she sighed. She leaned her forehead against Galaxy's neck and breathed in his horse scent. It was so relaxing. "How about we just ride? That's fun."

"Whatever you would like to do." She turned to face him and nodded. "All right." She went to Galaxy's side and mounted. Link did the same with Epona. She guided Galaxy over the bridge and to the main part of the field. Epona stayed right in line with Galaxy. Meghan went the direction of the Kokiri forest, and pushed Galaxy into a gallop. They rode side by side in silence, comforting each other mentally. They both didn't know what to say; yet they both knew they were saying all their comforting words with their actions.

When they were near the Kokiri Forest, Link finally thought of something to say. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"My birthday?"

"Yeah. We'll celebrate it, even if you don't want to."

"I don't want anything." She wanted to say that the perfect birthday gift would be to stay in Hyrule forever, but she knew he couldn't give that. She didn't want to make him feel bad either.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He sighed. They were once again out of words. Meghan turned Galaxy near the trees that lined the field. Instead of fake trees, like in the game, the field was lined with real forests. Meghan had no doubt that they were part of the Lost Woods, so she never went in them. She was also scared to go in. It was always darker in there.

"Link, what is in those woods?"

"They say it's part of the Lost Woods."

"I thought so."

"But that's just what everyone says. I always thought that there was something beyond them."

"Termina."

"Termina?"

"Yeah. Eventually, if you fall through a hole, you might get to Termina."

"But Termina is so far away. It's hard to believe that it could ever lead there."

Meghan took a deep breath. "Maybe one day we can go explore?" Link turned his head toward her. She knew why; he was surprised that she admitted that there was a chance that something bad WOULDN'T happen. Then he smiled.

"We can."

Meghan led Galaxy again, toward Gerudo Valley. She took the long way around, weaving through trees. "Good boy, GalGal!" Galaxy snorted. "You're welcome! Now, faster! This way!"

"Hey Meghan, how about testing his jumping skills?"

"You mean like over a fence?"

"Yeah. Like that one. Epona usually can do that easily. It'd be good for beginners."

"O…OK…" She was a little scared of jumping, but she trusted Galaxy more than any other horse and she also trusted Link to guide her and tell her what exactly she was to do. "What do I do?"

"Come over here!" He rode Epona to a little way away from the fence, so they were facing it head on. "Come like this."

"OK." She led Galaxy over. "_Hey Galaxy, you ready_?" He snorted.

"You need to go pretty quick going to the fence. Once your close, Galaxy should be able to figure it out."

"I already told him."

"Good, then he won't be clueless. Completely." She smiled.

"This is his first time too."

"Well, that's good."

"No it's not! But I do trust him to be a good horsy."

"Trust is one of the first steps. I'll jump with you. Position yourself a little away from me." Meghan turned galaxy around, making a circle and a bigger gap between Epona and Galaxy. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Her stomach flip-flopped.

"Set—go!" Epona started a bit before Galaxy. He immediately sped up. The feet between them and the fence quickly diminished…20…18…16…14…12…10…8…6…4…

The fence was right before her now.

"Galaxy, I hope you know what you're doing, 'cause I don't!" She felt Galaxy's stride differ as he prepared to go over…and miraculously, they went over with ease. Meghan was holding the reins so tight that her knuckles were whitish. Galaxy slowed down and halted. Meghan realized she had been leaning forward slightly, and straightened. She saw Link only a little bit away.

"Good job, Gal. You were great." She breathed out and rubbed Galaxy's neck.

"Wow! That was really good for a first jump!"

"I didn't do it! Galaxy completely did everything! I didn't even know what to do, but he did."

"Good news, someone knew what to do." Meghan opened her mouth wide in fake shock/anger. She rode Galaxy as close to Link as possible and said,

"I'm going to hijack your ride."

"Hijack?"

"Yeah, HIJACK." Link just stared at her. "It means steal. While you're still on."

"Oh." He paused. "Oh wait!"

"Better start running."

"OK." He turned Epona around and led her off, not very fast.

"Slow poke!" She pushed Galaxy into a fast canter, easily catching up to him. "I'm going to catch you!"

"You can't catch me!"

"Yes I can!" Link turned his head around and stuck his tongue out. Meghan laughed. "Dork!"

"Dork!" he echoed.

"Hey! Come back here!" He went faster than he was already going, and Meghan was catching up. She stood as best she could, barely lifting her bottom off the saddle. Somehow, she managed to swing one leg over to the other side and sit sidesaddle. Somehow, she managed to catch up with Link. And yes, somehow, she managed to pull the hat off Link's head, which was beginning to annoy her. Somehow, she ACTUALLY managed to throw it on the ground. You know how that gets him angry.

"Meghan! What was THAT for?" He stopped Epona and dismounted. Meghan hopped over from Galaxy to Epona while he walked over to where it landed and bent down to pick it up. By the time he had dusted it off and put it back on his head, Meghan was fully mounted on Epona. Epona seemed to be playing along with Meghan. She sidestepped around Galaxy and walked over to Link without Meghan's guiding. "Huh? MEGHAN!"

"I told you." She smiled. "I didn't lie."

"Well I guess I'll have to take Galaxy."

"No you won't."

"Yes, I will." He walked over to Galaxy. Galaxy walked over to Epona's side. Link followed him and took his reins, but Galaxy resisted.

"That's a good horsy, Gal. Don't let him get on! Come on! Epona! Gal!" She made Epona go, and Galaxy followed, leaving Link behind. She circled around him. He just stared after her. Finally he gave up and just sat where he was.

"Meghan, no one has ever kept me running in circles like you do before. Usually I'm the one doing that. I WAS the one doing that."

"Who did you make run in circles?"

"The Kokiri. I was a hyperactive little kid." He fell over backwards and lay down on the grass.

"Really? What did you do?"

"None of them had as much energy as I did, except Saria. I guess it was because they were all a lot older. And most of them didn't want to play with me either."

"Yes they did. They just didn't want to tell Mido. He would…be mean."

Link laughed. "I guess so. But it didn't seem like it." Meghan went and sat next to him. She pulled at the grass. It seemed so preternatural. No weeds grew between the blades of grass, and the dirt underneath was perfectly brown. The grass was so soft. She flopped down on her stomach next to him on his back. She stared at the grass as she pulled blade by blade.

"Well, you have friends now. The past doesn't matter."

"It might not. But we don't know. You could go back there. Back in time. I could go, too."

"Or we could go back to my world."

"Or we could stay here."

"Or I could die."

"Or you could live and I would die."

"Or we could both die."

"At least we'd know someone in…wherever we're going," he quoted. Meghan let out a snort.

"Yeah. That's good."

They lay and talked for a while, with Link trying to steer the conversation away from their inevitable…um…tomorrow.

In a little bit, Meghan got to a conversation about Punnett Squares and Link got interested in genetics, just as she had been.

"Check it out." She drew a square in the dirt with her finger. Then she split it into four parts. "You put the allele things here," she put a capitol R and a lower case r to the left of the square vertically. Horizontally she put R and R, on the top. "The r's stand for round, the dominant and recessive alleles." Link looked at the square carefully. "Now you have to do the cross thing. The capitol letter always goes first. Bring the two letters to the square." She traced her finger from the top R and wrote an R in the first square on the left. Then she traced her finger from the left R and put it after the R in the first square. Next she traced the top right R into the top right box, and the first R on the left into the same box. Thirdly, she traced the top left R into the bottom left square, and brought the r on the bottom left to the same box, after the R. Then she brought the top right R to the bottom right box, and the bottom left r to the bottom right bow, after the R.

"And that is how you do that part. R stands for round, the dominant allele, and r stands for wrinkled, the recessive allele. We're speaking of pea plants here. Now, the genotype and phenotype. The genotype is what it is genetically. The genotype here is fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous, and fifty percent homozygous dominant. The phenotype is what it looks like. It's one hundred percent wrinkled."

"How do you know which is dominant?"

"It depends. You can tell by doing a test cross between one pure kind and another pure, and whichever shows up in the offspring is the dominant. Because they would all be hybrids, right?"

"Um…I guess so."

"Let's try that one." She repeated the process, only on the top was rr and the side was RR. All the results came out Rr. "So what's the phenotypes?"

"That's the…what it is, right?"

"No, that's the way it looks."

"Oh, right." He focused on the Square really hard. "It's all dominant. So they're all round, right?"

"What's the percentage?"

"One hundred percent."

"Correct! Now, what's the genotype?"

"Well…they're all the same…so…one hundred…percent…big words."

"Heterozygous. Or, hybrid is easier to remember."

"Hybrid."

"Yeah. Now, take a look at this. If you crossed two hybrids, remember, each still has the allele for the recessive. So if you cross them…what will happen?" He looked at the already drawn square.

"Then…" he paused for a while.

"Try it." She wiped out her square. He filled in the parts, squinting in the fading light.

"Phenotype is seventy-five percent round and twenty-five percent wrinkled. Some are wrinkled!"

"Yeah."

"And genotype. Genotype is…well, there's more here…so I know fifty percent is hybrid…and…twenty five percent is…that other big word, but this other one I don't know."

"Homozygous. This one," she pointed to the top left square, "is homozygous dominant. Now, this one is exactly the opposite. What would it be?"

"Homo…homozygous…"

"The opposite of dominant."

"Homozygous recessive?"

"Yup! So, twenty-five percent homozygous dominant, twenty-five percent homozygous recessive, and fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous."

"Interesting."

"I know, isn't it? It was my favorite subject. Biology, I mean. I miss it. I was in an advanced course, not to brag, but I was a grade ahead. I skipped life science in eighth grade and took bio instead. Then I took earth science in ninth, when everyone else was supposed to be taking biology, and in tenth I took AP bio. Advanced placement bio. Oops, did I say I? I meant, there were about…I think seventeen other kids in my class. We were all like that."

"OK…"

"Yes, I understand you are confused."

"No, I'm just thinking of how smart you are." He said, rolling back onto his back and closing his eyes. Meghan stayed in her position on her stomach, making a Punnett Square twice the size and putting multiple alleles in the spots. She put YR, Yr, yR, and yr on the top and YR, Yr, yR, and yr on the side. She came out with the results YYRR, YYRr, YyRR, YyRr, YYRr, Yyrr, YyRr, Yyrr, YyRR, YyRr, yyRR, yyRr, YyRr, Yyrr, yyRr, and yyrr.

"I'm not that smart. I've done so many stupid things. Hey, look. Nine yellow-round, three yellow-wrinkled, three green-round, and one green-wrinkled. One homo d/homo d, one homo d/homo r, one homo r/homo d, one homo r/homo r, two hy/homo r, two hy/ homo d, two homo r/hy, two homo d/ hy, and four hybrid slash hybrids." Link opened the eye closest to her and looked at her.

"What did I tell you? You just did that all."

"So?"

"SO? So, that's sorta helping my side, not yours."

She shrugged and didn't say anything.

After a bit of silence, Meghan noticed how dark it was. She could only just see her square in the dirt. "Have you any clue what time it is?"

"No."

"OK." She rolled onto her back next to him. "I don't care anyway."

"You know, it just occurred to me that I left Navi somewhere the whole day."

"Yeah. Well, that's OK. I guess we survived without her. Where'd she go?"

"I don't know. We had her at the castle. But after that, I don't remember. Was she even there when we were at Zora's Domain?"

"I don't think so…I hope she's all right."

"I'm sure she is. I wouldn't mind finding her right now, though. I feel so bad. I can get so angry at her, but really, I don't mean to. I like her."

"I do too."

"Yeah." Meghan thought about Navi and all the fun things they had done together… "Meghan? Meghan? MEGHAN?"

"Oh, sorry. I daydreamed a bit." She let her hand fall from where it was resting on her stomach to the ground. It fell on top of his, and she didn't even know it was there. She quickly and reflexively tried to move it, but his hand grasped her before it could. She reflexively turned her head, and saw him staring straight at her. She turned it back.

"What?"

"Look at the stars." She pointed up with her free hand. It was completely dark now, and the stars were visible. "Do you have constellations?"

"Constellations?"

"You know, like people make things out of the stars. Like where I come from, there's the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper, and Orion's Belt and lots of other ones. They're just the shape of the stars' formations."

"Oh, well, there have always been the goddesses in the sky." He pointed to the side. What Meghan thought he pointed at were seventeen stars, where if you connected the dots, looked like a stick figure with a ponytail. "That's Din. And that's Nayru." He pointed to the middle of the sky, straight above them. It looked like a stick figure with shoulder length hair.

"Cool!"

"And Farore, my favorite, no offense goddesses," he added quietly, "is over there." He pointed to the left where a stick figure with two pigtails was.

"That's cool. Better than my world's stars." She stared up at Nayru above her.

_Nayru, what was the point? I came here, but what was the point? Am I going to go back? Will I die? I hope Link is all right;_ She turned her head and saw him staring up into the sky too. She thought he was probably thinking the same thing as her. _I hope he'll be OK. That's all I ask for._ She wasn't sure if she imagined it, or if it really happened, but she thought that the stars that made up the Nayru constellation glowed a little brighter. She chuckled.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing." She sat up and put the hand he held on her knee. (She was sitting with her legs to the side; you know what I'm talking about?)

Link sat up too. "What's up? Why'd you get up?"

"I don't know. I just feel weird here."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, smiling. "I want to get up!" She let go of his hand and jumped up. She ran over to Galaxy, where he grazed. "See this, SEE? This! This is a HORSY!" Link stood up and stared at her. _How can she be like this? One second she'll be one way, the next, another!_ "This horsy is COOL!" She hugged Galaxy around the neck and breathed in his musty, horsy scent. "You smell good…" She yawned.

"Maybe it's time to go." Link suggested.

"No! It's only, like, nine o' clock! Dude! I don't want to go! No no no! And I don't want to go back to the castle. Way too annoying."

"Than don't go back to the castle."

"Where do I go then?"

"Come with me. We can go back to the Kokiri Forest."

"That's fine, but I can't go back to Saria's house. I already changed to the castle. I live there now." She said sadly.

"Then you can stay at my house. I don't mind." Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself nodding her head. Then she shook it quickly after nodding.

"No, I couldn't."

"Really. I don't mind." He gave her a look, one that waited impatiently for an answer.

"…OK…" She said slowly. "What about Gal?"

"We can bring him back, then go."

"OK." She walked over to Galaxy and mounted. "Come on, boy." Link followed her with Epona. In about ten minutes, they were at the ranch. Malon was nowhere in site, so Meghan removed Galaxy's tack and put it back in the tack room. None of the other horses were out, so Meghan led him inside the stables. Link brought Epona inside, too.

Meghan put Galaxy in his stall and made sure he had food and water. "_I hope I see you again. Maybe tomorrow._" She whispered. She gave Galaxy a huge hug, and rubbed him for a while, while Link tended to Epona. She found his brushes and brushed him over, and Link did the same with Epona. Then she gave another hug, a kiss on his velvety nose, and a final pat. She closed the door as she left the stall. Galaxy seemed to sense her sadness and whinnied.

"I'll see you." She said. Link patted Epona and left her. Meghan noticed how he didn't close her door. "See you, Epona."

Horses watched them as they left, hoping for a carrot. They walked out of Lon Lon Ranch. Possible forever.

About forty minutes later, they arrived at the Kokiri forest. Some Kokiri were still out, but not most of them. Meghan didn't feel like talking to them today.

She climbed the ladder to Link's house. She went and sat on the bed. It was cold tonight, like the night she came. Link sat next to her. She removed her sword and backpack leaned back against the wall. He did the same. They wanted to say something, but neither could find what to say. He wanted to bring up a topic, like biology, but didn't know if he should. Maybe she wanted quiet. Sometimes silence is the way to comfort someone.

"Maybe I'll get to play the piano again soon." She said suddenly. "I miss all the music from my world, not that yours is bad, no, not at all, but mine has electric guitars, basses, pianos, drums, violins, et cetera. And acoustic instruments aren't bad, but it loses the artificialness of it all. I like when it's artificial. I used to write songs for the regular piano, though. Did I ever tell you that?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I have. Quite a few. I think. A lot of them I didn't get to finish, because there's no piano here for me to play!"

"We'll find you one, one day."

"Thanks." She scooted a little closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back on him. She sighed.

"So, what songs have you written?"

"Well, let's see…" she counted in her head. **_(These are all the songs I've written!) _**"_The Mariklink_ _Song, Tears, Cold Memories, Graveyard Visions_, (Which will appear in the third story of this series, you'll see! (Yes I have written it already! ) um…and there's _I Used To Be, _this one without a name because I didn't put words to it because nothing seemed to fit, and Sing Me to Sleep."

"Sing Me to Sleep?"

"Yeah…I wrote that one when I sat alone in lunch at school. It was originally a poem, but as I was altering it, a tune came into my head and I liked it like that." (A true story)

"Will you sing it for me?"

"No! I can't sing."

"Well, I don't believe that."

"People said I could, but the truth is, I can't." (Another true story)

"I just want to hear it. Please?"

"Um…oh, fine." She took a deep breath, her stomach flip-flopping. "I'll sing it.

Sing me to sleep  
In that gentle way,  
in my mind, in my soul,  
put me to sleep today.

I was all alone, wandering.  
And now I'm tired.  
So sing me a song  
that will let me sleep.

And then…

Cry me to sleep,  
my tears, glistening, fall.  
When I remember it was but a dream.  
Let me cry to sleep,  
Let me cry myself to sleep…

Sweet song, sweet tune,  
Plays inside my head.  
When I remember it was just but a dream.  
Do I remember it was a dream?  
My tears remind me,  
remind me to sleep…

_Sing me to sleep_

_In that gentle way,_

_In my mind, in my soul,_

_Put me to sleep today._

Link's jaw dropped as he heard her sing. _All this time, there was that voice, and I never heard it! Seriously, I mean._

"What…where'd that come from?"

"I guess music is my best…quality. I'm not pretty, I'm not athletic, I'm not very social, I can't handle most of my emotions, and I can't handle ANYTHING…"

"But that's not true! You're beautiful! You can wield a sword very well for someone who's only had it for this little time. You have so many friends here-"

"Hylians are NICER than humans. Isn't that why they put me here?" Link paused.

"I guess so-"

"They're TERRIBLE. I was so different that they hated me. I had only my closest friends. I used to feel so SORRY for myself, and only when I came here did I realize that IT WAS MY OWN DOING!" She almost yelled. Link comforted her by stroking her arm, releasing all tenseness. She calmed down. "But people here, they see past flaws. You saw past flaws-"

"And I saw only your beauty." He said quietly.

"Oh." She realized she had just helped his case rather than her own. _I'm doing that a night…_

"But I don't think that matters now. You'll always be with me. I just know it. Most of the time, anyway."

"Most of the time?"

"Yes."

"At least we'll know someone where we're going…" they both said at the same time. Meghan giggled and Link smiled, although she didn't see it. She yawned and crossed her arms, grabbing his hands on either side. She snuggled into his warmth. All she thought about was how comfortable those perfect abs were.

Good thoughts were all she needed to fall asleep. She closed her eyes and before she could stay awake, she was asleep.

Link used the freest hand he had to pull a blanket over her and himself. He listened to her breathing as he himself nodded off to sleep.

Words rang in his mind,

Sweet song, sweet tune,  
Plays inside my head.  
When I remember it was just but a dream.  
Do I remember it was a dream?  
My tears remind me,  
remind me to sleep…

**OK, OK. I DID really write all those songs! And all that Meghan said in this chapter was true! I mean, about her life and such. True for me. Heh heh. AnYwAy, the "Mariklink" song was a song I wrote directly after a sleepover I had this summer with my friend KittyKayla who was obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh at that time and loved a guy named Marik from it. So I wrote a song dedicated to our loves and us. Hence the name, the MARIK LINK song. But if you say it fast, it sounds like Mara klink! (And I have no idea what that is)**

**The song "Sing Me To Sleep" is on my fictionpress account (Homepage on bio page), as well as the Cold Memories chorus. (Because that was originally a poem too)**

**One more thing before I leave: I was originally going to use "My Immortal" as the song Meghan sings (I had this planned since, like, at LEAST ten chapters ago) but then _I saw on the homepage that "copying and pasting" songs that you didn't write is ILLEGAL for some stupid reason_. So I had to go and remove them all from this story. But I put my own in! Possible I'll put more in later chapters. Oh, and I estimate this story to be 31-35 chapters long. I've already started writing a cool part to the sequel that my friend (the one who made Kazana) gave me an idea for. (It includes illusions. REMEMBER THAT! )**

**BYE! I HAVE TALKED ENOUGH! **


	62. DAY SEVEN: Final Day

**(Shakes head in embarrassment) I can't believe I did that! Man you guys are going to like this chapter. So stupid…**

**People**

**TheHylian: Hi TheHylian! Thnks for being a great reviewer! It may take a while for you to get to this chapter…so…(Sits idly)**

**Meowzi: AAH! Die! NO! You evil little girl! Don't say that…there are PEOPLE in the room…oh, and yes, I would kill Meghan. Just you WAIT till the sequel. (I didn't say anything )**

**Kat: Romance novels? Hmm…(Goes to the brand-new Barnes and Noble that just opened a few minutes away from my house) Anyway, I didn't give anything away! **

**Serenity: I'm glad you missed me! Somebody actually does! Well thanks and stuff. You shall seeeeee…what happens…and thanks for liking my song! **

**The song I put in this chapter I wrote a month (Or more) ago (Actually, I remember I wrote the tune for it on Christmas because that's when I got my new piano) (Words came later). I obviously wrote it in memory of this story and had planned to put it in where I did. Most of the stuff in this chapter was planned a while ago. (Excluding anything to do with Luke/Zelda)**

**Yah whatever. Here it is: **

**Day Seven: Final Day**

Link woke, not quite remembering what today was. Then he saw the girl in his arms, breathing steadily. The sun was barely up. He could only just see around his room. It couldn't have been later than six. He slowly inched out from under her, leaving her on the bed with the blanket on top of her.

With the thoughts of the day ahead of him, and what he had to do, he decided to take a short walk before Meghan got up. He walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" a tired, soft voice came from the bed. He turned and saw Meghan with her eyes barely open.

"Go back to sleep. I'll be back in a few minutes. It's really early."

"Then why are you up? It's cold." He walked back to her and tucked the blanket tighter around her. She was very tired and didn't feel like moving. She blinked; trying to keep her eyes open, but was failing miserably.

"I just want to take a walk by myself for a while."

"No…please…don't go…I'm tired and you are too."

"But I'm not."

"Don't…hide it." She exhaled. "Please come." She squeezed a tear from her eye. It wasn't because she was crying; it was just from being so tried. Her eyes told her to go to sleep.

"It's early. Go back to sleep. You were up late last night."

"So were you." He sighed and kneeled down next to her.

"I'll stay." She slowly turned to her left side, her right hand under her head and her left hand hanging over the side of the bed. He gently took her hand.

"_Why did you want to walk by yourself? Where did you want to go_?"

"…_I wanted to see…my mother_." She opened her eyes and blinked.

"_Oh_." Came a tiny breath of sound.

Within minutes she was back asleep. He had to give in. He squeezed in on the bed between her and the wall and fell asleep himself.

Why was he always so tired lately?

A FEW HOURS LATER…

This time, Meghan woke up first. She just lay there for a second, and then realized something. She fell asleep…in his arms…a…n…d…his arm was till there! (She is slow…) Only she could have sworn she fell asleep sitting up…oh wait! Then she had woken up because Link wanted to go somewhere…but then he was on the floor next to her!

And now, his arm was in a most inconvenient spot for her to get up…around her waist. She turned around and looked at his face, it was so beautiful…

His eyes were gently closed, sandy bangs falling in front of his face. His head was propped up on his own arm, and his lips…he had such perfect lips… His eyebrows (Yes a strange thing to notice, but she is like that) were perfect also. The way they accented his face and gave him a serious, mischievous look…and especially when those big, blue eyes were open. They were like an _endless _sea with _limits_…blue as the sky, yet fierce as a blueberry…but a shame; they were closed. His skin was so perfect also…not a flaw in sight. Must be good to be a Hylian. The best part was his hat wasn't on. Such beautiful hair he had.

She now realized that his arm rested on her stomach. She ignored it. She looked out the window. The sad, gloomy feeling fit the day perfectly. It looked damp, wet, and rainy outside.

She rolled over, so now his arm rested on the other hip.

"I don't want to go." She said, burying herself under the blankets and falling back asleep.

TWO MINUTES LATER…

Link woke up this time. He quickly removed his arm, realizing it was resting on her back. She was almost completely under the blanket. The only thing that stuck out was her elbow.

"Meghan." He said, shaking her a bit. "Meghan."

"Noooo…" she moaned.

"Meghan, we have to get up."

"Nooooo!" she moaned louder.

"Meg, get up!"

"Go away!" He got off the bed, which was hard if he didn't want to touch her. "Don't want to get up." She burrowed farther into the blanket. He could see the outline of her form from under the blanket. She was curled up in a small ball.

"_Meghan…we have to. I'm sorry._" He whispered. He pulled the blanket from over her head. Her hair completely covered her face. "Come on." He pushed some of the hair from her face, Her eyes were wide open, but she made no attempt to move.

"I'm not going anywhere." She moaned. "I don' feel like it."

He sighed. "I don't want to do this but…" he pulled the blanket from over her in one quick motion.

"HEY!"

"You're wearing long sleeves and pants. You can't be that cold."

"Shut up."

"Just get up, please. Don't make it harder than it is." He added solemnly.

"You're just trying to make me feel bad." She said into the bed, so her voice was all muffled. He sighed again. He slid one hand under her…well, as best he could under her back and another under her knees. She protested, but couldn't do anything about him picking her up.

"Hey! Put me down! DOWN DOWN DOWN! NOW!"

"Don't be so cranky." He put her down, feet first so she would stand. As soon as she was standing by herself, she jumped back onto the bed and curled up again.

"It's too icky outside."

He sighed another very annoyed sigh. He picked her up again; this time didn't let her down right away. She kicked in his arms, but didn't want to actually hit him so he just brought her outside. It was cloudy, gloomy, and just plain ICKY outside. The melancholy feeling brought tears to Meghan's eyes, but she held them back.

MEANWHILE…

"Luke…do you know if anybody saw Meghan last night? I don't think she came." Zelda asked Luke. He was sitting in his office in the castle when Zelda appeared at the doorway.

"No. I can ask the soldiers."

"No, it's fine, but I just want to be sure she's all right. You know…"

"I'm sure she's fine. She's probably with Link."

"Do you think she stayed with…him…last night?" she said, trying to phrase the sentence so it wouldn't sound too wrong.

"I don't know, but I know he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Yesterday's events, I mean."

"You're right. I know they saw Ruto yesterday and Impa said they were in Kakariko, but after that, I don't know. Maybe Malon knows something. Or I can ask Darunia if they were on the mountain-"

"Zelda. Stop worrying. They're fine."

"I know but what if…I don't want to say they're irresponsible because they're not, but what if they're not here and-"

"Zelda!" he said, getting up from his desk and walking to her. "They're fine."

"Yes. You are right…"

"Zelda, I'm more worried about you. Will you be all right?"

"…I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

Zelda nodded, but then she shook her head. "I don't want anything to happen to them! I don't want them to do this! But I have to, and everyone knows that, but it seems so cruel…I don't like it. I really don't like it."

"Everything will be fine."

"But we don't know that! No one knows! What if the goddesses don't even know?"

"They must know."

"But…but…but there are so many determining factors…" She crossed her arms and her brow furrowed. "And then there's s-" But before she could finish her sentence, she felt lips meet her own in a gentle kiss. She was so surprised. Her arms uncrossed and flew to her sides, but in another second, they moved around his neck.

Luke broke off, stepping back. He bowed his head.

"Sorry, your highness." She stared at him.

"Don't apologize. I had it coming." She paused for a second. "And don't call me that." Luke looked up and smiled.

"Right."

MEANWHILE…

"You can put me down now…" He stood on his balcony. "Hello, please?"

"Fine." He gently put her on the floor, but he stood in the doorway so she would not be able to go back in. She sniffed and crosses her arms.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"We have to do it sometime."

"Well, duh, but, you know…"

"Yes?"

"Ah, forget it." She looked out into the cloudy sky. "It's as if nature was sad too." Link looked too and nodded.

"Very much so." She leaned her head back and pulled her fingers through her knotty hair.

"Let's just go. We have a horrible habit of having meaningless conversations just to procrastinate."

"Yeah." He smiled sadly. He knew what she wanted them to go do, and that was the sad part of the smile. But it made him happy that she wasn't terribly dreading it…at the moment…and actually got out of the bed.

"But first, we must see…somebody." She didn't want to say "your mom" or something, for fear of upsetting him.

"Who?"

"YOU know, the person you wanted to see this morning?" she said/asked quietly.

"Oh, of course. I wasn't sure if you wanted to come with me, though."

"I'd go with you anywhere."

And it was that sentence that gave him that much more courage to do what he had to today…both the things he had to do today.

"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me." She felt a lump in her throat. She nodded. If she said anything, she feared that she would start to cry. Already tears formed in her eyes, making her vision blurry, but she tried not to make them fall. Yet her eyes overflowed, and before she could help it, a tear dropped from her eye.

They went down to the Great Deku tree's meadow, saying hi to the Deku Sprout.

"Although your journey seems rough, a destiny lies ahead of both of you. What will be done is your destiny, and you cannot change it." Meghan remembered that was almost exactly what Link had said on the First day.

"Thank you, Great Deku…sprout."

"Of course." They walked over to the lone tombstone. Link kneeled in front of it, and, out of respect, Meghan did too. She saw Link as he stared at it. She knew he was talking to her, telling her everything that he could. So Meghan decided to, too.

"_I never knew who you were, or what you did. I do not know your name, but neither does your son, Link. Nevertheless, I think that you were probably a wonderful person to have such a child, one who is so beautiful and nice at the same time. Thanks so much. And help us. Can you talk to the goddesses? Well, if you can, tell them, or get someone to tell them that your son needs you. And…and I do not want him to be sad. So don't make him sad._"

"Meghan, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stood and helped her up. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do you want to go?"

"You don't…want to stay…any longer?"

"I'm done, did you or something?"

"No, no! Or, I don't mind but it's not like I want to really badly."

"OK, then let's go." _Another procrastinating meaningless conversation._

They walked in complete silence the walk to Hyrule Castle Town. It was a long, sad walk. Meghan thought the whole time, as did Link.

…_**But I don't want to see her again…**_

…_What will I do?…_

…_I miss Alicia…_

…_She'll be devastated…_

…_**Kalena…**_

…_Zelda…what will she think?…_

…_**I hope he'll be all right…**_

…_I couldn't live…_

…_**What would he do?…**_

…_I wonder what death is all about…_

Meghan lifted her head and realized that she stood before the walls of Hyrule Castle Town. Another lump formed in her throat as she began to think again. She imagined what would happen if she did die. What does it feel like? Does it hurt? Do you know when you're dead? What if we're all dead? She tried to imagine just not being anymore. It was hard.

They entered the town. Link thought of the best thing that would happen. He didn't like to look to the worst. He imagined them, same, as they were, happy, together…

Meghan was torn from her thoughts as something hit her foot. She looked down to see what it was. A bright green ball had hit her foot. She looked as a few little kids came and ran to her to get it. She kneeled down and held the ball out to one of them. It was a small boy, no older than seven.

"Here you go."

"Thank you." He said, staring at her as he took back the ball. Two little girls came to her and pulled at her hands.

"Play with us! Come on!"

"Yes, play!" Meghan couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know."

"Please?" She stole a look at Link. He nodded and smiled. "OK. What should I do?"

"What's your name?"

"I'm Meghan."

"Hi Meghan!" The ball tossed the ball to her. She caught it in her left hand.

"We're playing a game that requires skill." He said, obviously trying to sound older. "You have to toss the ball as quickly as you can to one another. When Dia says stop, the person with the ball is out." The girl who was obviously Dia waved. Meghan waved back. _So it's hot potato…_ "She's too little to play, so we make her do that."

"Why is she too little?" Meghan asked, trying to stimulate his brain. "Why must she be the one? Did you ask her?"

"No, but she can't play."

"Size doesn't matter. Dia, did you want to play?" She nodded eagerly.

"But I'm too little." She said in a tiny voice.

"Just because you're little doesn't mean you can't beat the rest of these people." She motioned for the little girl, who was sitting on a wooden flower box (You know that thing in the middle of the town…), to come over. She hopped down and tottered over to Meghan.

"But who will say when to stop."

"Why, that's why I brought Link along!" The little boy who had first retrieved the ball from her looked at him.

"Cool!" he said in Hylian. (Or it's Hylian equivalent…I should say…) "He has a sword! A big sword! Can I hold it! I can handle it, I swear!"

"Sorry, kid, but no. I can't. Maybe when you're older. I'm sure your mother wouldn't like it too much."

"She wouldn't mind!"

"Maybe another day."

"Fine. We need to start the game. Dia won't get past the first round."

"_Have faith, Dia_." Meghan leaned down next to the girl. She was four or five.

"**_Trust in the goddesses. They'll give you more than you know_…"**

"Start!" The boy yelled. Link sat where Dia was sitting and observed carefully. He knew this game from the Kokiri Forest. He wondered how it got here.

"Stop!" He yelled. Perfect timing. The ball was in the hands of the first boy.

"No! I'm not out! He was cheating! You're not supposed to look!"

"I wasn't."

"Turn around! We need to start again." Link did as told, sitting on the other side. He was smiling. He closed his eyes. He could hear it…the slight bounce sound of the ball as it was caught…and the exact moment the kid had it.

"Stop." He said. He turned around and the kid had the ball. "Hey, what's your name, kid?"

"Stop calling me kid, you cheater!"

"I didn't cheat."

"You're out, Devan."

"What do YOU know Dia?" Meghan played the game with Link and Dia and the other children for a long time. She was having so much fun with all the little kids that she basically forgot everything.

"Oh, come on, guys!" she said as they pulled her by her hands to the floor. A few little girls sat next to her and in her lap.

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"No!"

"Please?"

"Fine. One day…I was very sad…and I was hoping that something good would happen. So that night, I was sitting in my room, back where I lived. And then, the next thing that I knew, I had fallen on my butt and landed on some soft grass. Can you guess where the grass was?"

"Hyrule field!"

"Yes. And I saw the very first person I ever…ever…liked like I did. Link and I became very good friends, very quickly."

"He gave you a sword!"

"Well, actually I took it from him."

"You're my idol!" Meghan made a strange face.

"Thank you…I think. After we became friends, we went on all sorts of adventures." She looked over to where Link was, with all the boys. They were doing something. Then she realized his sword wasn't in the sheath. "Link, don't hurt them!"

"They did it!"

"Continue the story!"

"OK, OK. So then we went on this huge adventure and I got to fight this huge monster. Link actually beat him, though."

"What did you do?"

"I got hurt. Basically."

"That's awesome! Where'd you get hurt?" _This is a bunch of tomboys…_

"Here." She lifted her shirt just enough so the four girls could see the scar left on her stomach. It was five or six inches long and still had a little bit of scab left on it.

"Ow!"

"Yeah, it hurt. But Link helped me."

"That's so romantic!"

"Well…not exactly…"

"I'm going to go on an adventure with someone when I'm older!" Dia said.

"I hope you do. And have fun while it lasts."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, I went back to the Kokiri Forest…"

"You saw the Kokiri? I thought that there was no way to do that!"

"No, it's possible."

"What'd you do there?"

"I met with princess Zelda, who told us that Link would have to seal the area where the evil monster was. We had one week. So on the first day, I met the first of a group of very special people, a Kokiri named Saria. We talked for a long time. On the second day, I met the girl society of Gerudos, and another special girl named Nabooru. They had a surprise party for us. The next day, we met a very wise, old, special man named Rauru. He gave us tea in a magical garden. The next day we visited the curious Gorons, with whom we played a very hard game of Goron Bowling. We met the strong Goron brother Darunia, whose weakness is for a certain song written by the first special person, Saria. The next day, we went to Kakariko Village."

"I've been there! I used to live there!"

"We all used to live there! Shush!"

"Heh heh…we played games and went shopping there. We met the mysterious Sheikah, and leader of the village, Impa. The next day we went swimming with the Zora in Lake Hylia, a vast lake all the way across Hyrule."

"One day I'll go there too."

"It's beautiful. The air is moist, warm, and it's refreshing to go swimming. We met the last of the special people, Ruto, a Zora."

"What did you do the next day?"

"We went to Hyrule Castle Town and met a bunch of very special people, very very special."

"Who were they?"

"Well, they were about this high," she held her hand a distance from the ground. "And they sat in my lap and asked me to tell them the story about how I got here, while Link stood somewhere else with some boys and showed off his sword." She paused for a second. It took a minute for one to get it.

"Hey! That's us!"

"Yes."

"You're going to seal the monster forever?"

"Yes."

"Well then you must go!" They got off of her and pulled her to her feet. She brushed off her pants. _If only it was that simple…_ "Mister Link! Hurry!"

"What?" He turned around as two little girls grabbed the hand that was not holding his sword.

"Go do it!"

"Do what?"

"IT!"

"What's IT?" He looked at Meghan.

"Yeah…um…"

"What?" he asked, getting scared and completely forgetting the day's future events.

"IT! GO DO IT! IT IT IT!"

"DIA! DEVAN! Time to come home! Your father is here!"

"Sanna! You too!" A whole bunch of mothers started calling their kids back home, which was very strange. It must have been lunchtime or something.

"_Bye Dia_…" Meghan whispered, watching the little girl walk away.

It became cloudy, and within a few minutes, it started to rain. People started to go back to their homes. Only a few were left outside. Meghan grabbed Link's hand and they walked to the Temple of Time.

They saw Zelda waiting there, something leaning against her leg. As Meghan got closer, she realized what it was. The rain stopped. Meghan took one long look at the Master Sword against her leg. Zelda and Link greeted each other silently. Zelda lifted the sword up to Link, and he took it.

"Meghan…"

"Zelda." Zelda bowed her head, showing she was sad, but she didn't have the courage to put it in words.

"Do what is to be done, Link. I…you are-"

"Is it true that you think I'll die?" Meghan asked.

"Truthfully, I do not. It is the other sages. But I have confidence that the goddesses will guide us and help us. No, I do not believe so." Meghan nodded. By this time, Link had switched sword, putting the Master Sword in place of the Biggoron sword. He placed it on the ground, leaning it against the temple.

"Are you ready, Meghan?" She nodded. Zelda stepped forward and hugged her tightly.

"May the goddesses guide you on any road you may have to travel." She said in her ear. "You will always be my friend, and I am eternally grateful." Meghan nodded as she let go.

"You'll do great…you know… leading Hyrule."

"Thank you."

"Thank you, Zeld."

"And Link," she gave him a hug too, "be careful anywhere you go. You'll do great…but I'm sure you'll both be fine."

"Thank you." Zelda pulled away and looked down. "_Goddesses, we need you more than ever now_…" She looked up.

"Come on." Link pulled Meghan's hand and they walked inside. Meghan felt tears inside her eyes, once again blurring her vision. They could no longer see Zelda.

_As I sit and bleed,_

_I can hear the lies once told to me._

_And I wait for you,_

_To send me on my way._

Ganon's sword cut her across the stomach. She gasped, clutching her stomach and staining her hands and arms with blood. She gasped for breath again, fell on her knees, and spit blood on the floor.

_And for once,_

_Maybe I'll find my peace._

"Meghan, come on! Please, don't leave me." The tears from his eyes dripped down his face. One landed on her cheek. Her eyes squeezed shut before they opened slowly. The first thing she saw was Link looking away from her and Zelda, squeezing the tears from his eyes. "Don't, no NO! Meghan…" He realized her eyes were opened and he smiled.

_Oh, I sit and wait for you,_

_Then I can truly leave. _

_Finding that perfect place, _

_There in your arms._

"…Because I found so many friends along my journeys. Some of the most precious sit here now."

_**Yeah,**_

_**I sit and wait,**_

_**I sit and wait…**_

…_**Only for you.**_

"Meghan…" he said, staring into her eyes.

"Don't worry, Link. I'll stay; they let me. I'll stay…" she whispered, smiling at him before slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

_As I sit and die, I can hear them calling._

_Voices from the sky,_

_Maybe I won't find my peace…_

…_Will I?_

"**Then it is settled. You shall stay, child. I do hope you're happy with Farore's, the creator of life, decision."**

_Oh, I sit and wait for you,_

_Then I can truly leave. _

_Finding that perfect place, _

_There in your arms._

As they walked towards the exit of the clearing, Link walked closer to Meghan. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He looked at her, but she just leaned her head against his shoulder.

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, _

_Goes the blood from me,_

_My wounds are far behind me,_

_There's nothing left for you to see._

They were now in the room where the pedestal was. Meghan tried not to look at it; she tried not to look at anything. Link turned to face her, taking both of her hands. She looked down.

"Meghan…I have to say…I never thought before…I never was this scared."

_Scared? _She thought. _I never thought you could be scared. You're not scared. I'm the scared one…_

"I…" she looked up at him, taking in those eyes of his. Today she didn't attempt to look away. She couldn't, she didn't even think of it. She barely realized. He came closer to her, tilting his head down slightly and Meghan brought hers up.

Lips met in a long desired kiss. Meghan closed her eyes, but renegade tears fell down her face, lingering at her chin for a second before falling onto the ground between them. After a few seconds they gently broke away, absorbing the shock of what had just happened.

"I love you," he said in the midst of it all. "I'd been wanting to say that for so long…yet I could never find the courage. I don't know why." She heard him, but it didn't register in her mind.

Meghan stood back and let his hands go, just standing there and sniffling. Her breathing started being segmented and hard, like one's does before they cry. More tears fell down her face, until she was totally crying. She stood by herself, a foot or two away from Link, just crying.

She felt like an island away from him, completely drowning in an ocean of tears. Her arms hung at the side of her. She just cried.

Link, although it never happened to him, knew that she needed comfort, and knew what she was feeling. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her, with it not even occurring to him that she hadn't said she loved him back.

She put her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, wetting his shirt and tunic. He didn't seem to care. So she cried more. But then she remembered what he said to her…

"I love you too…" she cried. "_So much…_" A huge sob escaped her lips.

Link let her cry. There was no point to rushing it. He gently rubbed her back, which comforted her more than he realized. He waited…

_Waited_

…And waited…

_Waited_

…And he waited…

Her crying started to slow down, but she still held on to him.

"We've made so many promises. Promise not to break them?" she hiccupped.

"I promise, always." She sniffed, lessening her grip around his neck. Then she slipped away from him, and they took each other's hands. Slowly they walked to the pedestal. Link solemnly drew the sword and Meghan let go of his hand. With one last look at each other, Link stepped up to it. After a deep sigh, he raised it above hi head and brought it straight down into its Pedestal. So much blinding light surrounded them. Meghan couldn't see anything as she took a step back, closing her eyes and shielding them from the light.

They both screamed.

…_**We'll always be together…**_

**One more thing. In you review, I need three things from you guys:**

**A cool name you think is Hylian sounding. (A boy and/or girl. I need both for a very important reason!)**

**Any questions that you ever had about something to do with why Meghan's here, etc. (I'm going to answer them in a cool way)**

**And for my own entertainment:**

**3) What you think will happen. I'm curious,**


	63. So This Is Our Fate

**I'm BACK! (And right now listening to songs in all different languages! Mainly Japanese…) and you know what surprised me? The number of people who are "Bad with names." ( Quote) And also the amount of people who thought the story was **

**People**

**TheHylian: Please! Review every chapter if you wish! I enjoy it even if they're pointless. Ah…oh yeah…(Waits idly) AND IF YOU THINK ABOUT READING THIS CHAPTER YOU HAD BETTER HEED MY NOTE HALFWAY THROUGH LEST I HURT YOU! Thanks!**

**Serenity: …erm…well, story's not quite over yet! You'll know. And thanks for the name! (I really like that one!) Thanks a lot! **

**Kitana: …hm…Kenji…NICE ONE! We'll see! Thank you!**

**EnigmaticAnathema****: …Hmm…NEW REVIEWER! You get pelted with French toast! Merci beaucoup! Oh, and since I'm learning Turkish…Turkish toast! Te**ş**ekk**ü**rler! thank for everything! **

**Meowzi: (I'm just going to call you that, OK?) OMG It's so NOT done! Yes! Yes, what you have been bugging me about! Thanks for the names and your question…hmm, yes she did. Sorry, your question didn't really fit in with the rest! ' Ha! I am psychic! You ARE short! Wait, when did I say that again?**

**Kat: …hmm…was that supposed to be Létra? Or Le'tra? Anyway, um…Oh, I wouldn't kill her, would I? MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Just you wait! (Kidding) **

**Rafajdestiny: Wow. You see, everyone else should write reviews like this! I'd be so much happier. _Everyone go look at the beautiful review! You should all be ashamed that you can't write such beautiful reviews!_**

**Bluedranzer77: Haha, that was funny. "And They Kissed!" thanks for the review! **

**One last thing! I would like to know how some people figure that eight plus seven equals seventeen? Yet somehow Meghan is going to go back to being eight years old with him…**

**On with da story!**

"_Meghan…Meghan, wake up sweetie. Time for-"_

"Mom?" Meghan asked, her eyes flickering open. All she saw was white for a few seconds. Then the white light formed lines, dividing it into the stones that made up the Temple of Time. She sat up after watching the scene before her unfold. She remembered she was in the temple…then he put the Master Sword back… "Oh my god! Link?" She frantically searched the room. She calmed down when she saw his figure sprawled out on the floor a few feet away. She crawled over to him, her back sore. She must have been sent flying.

"Link…wake up." She shook his arm. "Come on." She shook him harder. "Link."

She sighed with relief as his eyes squeezed tight. "Link?" she asked. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He turned his head and looked at her. He smiled. "Link…" she said breathily, smiling and half crying at the same time.

He reached up, and as she thought he was going to touch her face, he reached even past her face and touched…her EAR?

She sat back and put her hand over his. The feeling seemed to extend farther than usually…

"Oh my god! Esses! I mean! What?" Link removed his hand and sat up.

"You're Hylian now."

"Me? What?" She touched her ears, her face, and everything that a Hylian had different than a human. She pulled her hair in front of her so she could see it. It now had the same texture as Link's did. Smooth and shiny. Plastic-y.

"Look at you. You're so beautiful like that."

"Thank you…" Meghan blushed.

"Well, that's new."

"What?"

"You're blushing!"

"No I'm not!" But she only turned a darker shade. "I never…um…"

"Truth. You are."

"Really?" She touched her cheek for some unknown reason.

"Really really." He said in a weird voice.

"OK, don't do that. Anyway, great. The big giveaway." She looked away.

"Don't be depressed. I've had to have my face turn red my whole life."

"Except seven years," she reminded him.

"Yeah. You've only just started."

"I guess." She stared at him. His eyes, though they still were big, blue, beautiful, and endless, didn't have the same effect on her. She could stare into them all she wanted. But today, they were different. Yet she practically hypnotized herself, trying to get him to hypnotize her. She shook her head. "Come on, let's go. We have to find everybody! This is so awesome!" She pulled on his hands and helped him stand. "Can you believe it?"

"…Yes and no. But yes!" He picked her up and twirled her around. "This is so…awesome!"

"AWESOME!" She said as he put her down.

She gasped as the floor started shaking.

"Come on! The Door of Time!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room. She just squeezed through the closing door, and it closed with a slam.

"Well, that was close."

Link nodded in agreement.

"Let's go." she said. Whether she was imagining it or not, as she started to walk, Meghan felt off-balance. It was different. She could have sworn her feet shrank…or she shrank…or something shrank…

By the time she had exited the temple, though, she felt nearly the same. She tore through the town, Link right after her. She reached the field and leaned over in the stream near the moat. She could see a reflection of herself.

Who was this person? She was so different. The first thing she noticed was her ears. They were so long now. She couldn't decide if she liked it or d it. The next thing she noticed was her eyes. They looked slightly different. A different shape, slightly. Not as much as Link's, but they were definitely different. Maybe something that contributed to that was her eyebrows. Instead of random like most people's, the little hairs seemed to be straight and in order. She couldn't tell too well in the water, but they were different. Or maybe she was just imagining things after observing Link's this morning?

Looking over her skin, every flaw she remembered having, the scars on her hands, they were all gone.

Quickly remembering, she lifted her shirt slightly and looked at her stomach. To her dismay, the scar was still there, as prominent and outstanding as always. Link must have seen the disappointment on her face as she lowered her shirt. He kneeled down next to her.

"It's probably still there because it was made by Ganon's sword. It's probably ic. It could have…" he trailed off, not wanting to say the words he was thinking. He was thinking stupid words, and upsetting words. He wanted to say, "Cursed your skin," but that was weird. "It could, for all we know, never go away."

"Well…that's all right I think. It's not like it hurts all the time." She suddenly gasped. "If I'm…" but she faded away. With a flourish, she pulled her knife out.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing!" She braced herself for the pain, and then quickly cut herself on the side of her wrist. "Ow!" she cried, but even after a few seconds, no came out, and the pain eventually receded. All that was left was a cut, literally, in her skin. "It's not bleeding!"

"Yes. I guess you're like me now."

"But that means…awesome!"

He nodded in agreement. "We need to find Zelda." He said after a moment.

"Then why did we come out here?"

"You sorta did that."

"Oh. Right. COME ON!"

At the castle, she asked the guard out front if he saw Zelda around.

"Yeah, she came running in. She looked upset."

"She went inside?"

"I honestly can't say. Another guard followed her."

"Thank you." They both said to the guard. He nodded.

"We need to find her soon so we can tell her!" They ran inside the gate thing and followed the path to the castle. They ran inside.

"Darn it! Well, I think I know…where…"

"Wait! I don't think she's in the castle."

"Why not?"

"I don't know; it doesn't seem right that she would be."

"Well then where do you think she is?"

"_I can answer that question."_ A voice said a little TOO conveniently.

"Rauru?" Meghan whispered.

"Zelda is with me in the Sacred Realm. Along with the rest of the sages." They found themselves surrounded in lights. Then they were in the Garden of the es' Wish. They saw Zelda in the gazebo thing. Meghan looked to the side of it. She saw a faint golden light. It nearly seemed the shape of a Hylian. Two bright blue lights that looked like eyes were where the face would be.

But as soon as she noticed it, it went away.

"Did…what…never mind. Zelda!" She ran forward. Zelda looked up. Meghan realized as she drew closer that Zelda had been crying. Zelda stared at her.

"Meghan!"

"Zellie!" Zelda stood up and Meghan practically hug tackled her.

"Oh goddesses! Look at you! Look! You're beautiful! Thank you goddesses." Zelda embraced Meghan as though she was her child. "You're OK…" she whispered.

"Zelda. You just said OK. I've never heard you say OK before."

"Looks like you've rubbed off on me." Zelda smiled.

"Where are the rest of the sages?" Meghan asked after Zelda had stared at her for some time.

"They're around." Link was now standing next to them. "Link! I'm so glad…" She gave Link a big hug.

"Thanks, Zelda." He said while returning the hug slightly. Zelda let go, exhaled loudly, and smiled.

"Come on. Let's find the other sages!" Zelda took Link and Meghan's hands and pulled them towards the stonewall at the end of the garden. She ran right through it and ended in the Chamber of the Sages.

"Meghan!" came a few voices.

"Link!" came the others.

"Meghan, are you all right?" Saria asked.

Meghan nodded. "Yeah."

"You're different than you were before. You look like a Hylian."

"Yeah…"

"She IS a Hylian," Nabooru said, looking her over and circling her. "Yes. A Hylian." Meghan turned slightly red. "Now Meghan, there's no reason to blush!"

"I don't mean to! Am I? Really?"

"Yes, silly."

They heard a faint "ahem" as they chatted. Meghan, Nabooru, and Saria looked to where it came from. Rauru. Saria and Nabooru smiled at each other and stepped back onto their respective platforms. All the other sages did the same, Except Zelda, who moved off the whole entire platform. Meghan thought she was going to fall, but she remembered you could walk there. Another platform appeared where she walked. Link joined Meghan in the middle.

"Rauru?" Zelda asked.

"I called you to order because the es have chosen to do something we thought unimaginable."

"By the es, yeah!" Darunia said.

"So we must-"

"Oh, Rauru. Give it up. This isn't the time for business! Let them go." Nabooru said.

"As unrespectable as it sounds, I agree with Nabooru. Another time we can ponder these strange happenings. For though moment, though, Meghan still hasn't seen herself completely!"

Meghan thought, _how does she know that?_

"Yeah. What they said." Ruto muttered.

Zelda started to laugh.

"Oh, Rauru. It's all right this time. Celebration! That's what we should be doing. Celebrating! Bye everyone." Suddenly all the sages little orbs of light of their own color. Green, blue, yellow, red, purple, and orange. Then Meghan and Link were surrounded by white.

"Bye." Zelda said. It sounded as though she was laughing and crying at the same time.

For a few seconds, Meghan felt as though she was nowhere. She looked around. She didn't see the Chamber of Sages, or anywhere in Hyrule…

She looked around. Everything was just white. Then she saw a bit of gold. It was like the figure she saw earlier, only this one had red eyes.

_Later_

_Later_

The word echoed through her head. She started to run towards the figure. It stayed exactly where it was, growing larger with every step until she was right next to it. It was a bit taller than her.

"Who are you?"

It burst in flames. Meghan stepped back. When the flames receded it was gone. "More like 'what' are you." She stared into the spot where it was.

"Meghan?" Link asked. She found herself in the field. "Are you all right?"

She cocked her head to one side. "What?"

"Are you all right?"

"No, not you. I just saw something."

"What was it?" he said, looking where she was looking.

"Not here." She squinted. "It looked like a person, but it wasn't."

"Then what was it and where did you see it?"

"I was in this white room and it said 'later' to me and then burst into flames and was gone. It was all gold colored."

"Gold colored…?" he thought for a second. _Gold…a…goddess? _"Meghan, what did she look like?"

"I don't know if it was a she. It was just gold figured and had these piercing red eyes."

"Oh." He didn't want to freak her out, if that's what it was.

"Hey, can we go back to the castle? I need to get changed."

"OK."

"And there's a mirror there!"

"Yes!"

"Yay!" She started running to the town, over the drawbridge, through town, past guards and into the castle. Even when they entered the castle, she didn't stop.

"Do you know where…?"

"Yes! I feel confident!" And within a few minutes, they were standing outside her door. "See? I only took two wrong turns!"

Link laughed. Meghan opened the door and let them in. She ran to the mirror on the wall.

"Look!" she cried, pointing at the mirror. "Is that me?"

"It looks like you."

"Are you sure?" She saw many details that proved she was herself, her height, hair color, eye color, and the shape of her face. It was just little details like the size of her ears, shape of her eyes and eyebrows, and skin and hair texture that made her different. She leaned in very close to the mirror.

"Can you see yourself yet?" he asked jokingly.

"No." she said monotonously. Actually, now that she examined herself, her eyes looked different. Darker. Maybe it was just her imagination, though…

She stared at herself for so long that Link sighed and sat on the couch.

"I'm done." She said sulkily. "I'm going to get changed."

"OK." She skipped into her bedroom, closing the door.

_**(AT THIS MOMENT I WOULD LIKE ANY BOYS WHO ARE READING THIS TO SKIP THIS PART AND RESUME AT THE NEXT NOTE THING. WHY? I DON'T KNOW! ) (Ahem, TheHylian, you too!)**_

Now that Meghan removed her clothes, she saw more differences. (OK, not even going to get into it…) (ermherm…something to do with the UPPER BODY…) (That area)

She switched her clothes with a black shirt and black pants. Yes, today she felt like what she was even though she never would be it now. After brushing her hair she collapsed onto the bed. Then she got an idea.

She went through the drawers. _No…no…_she said with each fail. Finally she found what she was looking for.

"Awesome." She pulled out a pair of black gloves. She pulled them on under her sleeves. Lastly, she dug out a pair of boots from the closet.

"Um…" she started going through all the drawers again. "Yes!" she pulled out the almighty black makeup.

She applied it to her eyes. "Now we are complete." She started to laugh maniacally. She threw open the door and surprised Link.

For two reasons.

"Isn't it…"

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Oh, ignore these clothes. I just haven't worn black in so long I had to go overboard!"

"OK."

_**(Boys may now resume reading.)**_

"Um…what do we do now?"

"…I don't know."

"…We could…"

"Yeah?"

"No…"

"No…"

"Yeah."

"OK…"

"No…no…"

"Huh?"

"What are we talking about?" Meghan giggled. Link smiled.

"I don't know."

"Je ne sais pas, monsieur."

"Well, that's good. Now, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. How about just going and seeing what we do when we get there?"

"Sounds good." They left the room.

They had gotten as far as the field when the question popped up again.

"Now what do we do?"

"Sit down on the grass." She said, plopping down. She put her ear to the ground. "I can hear things." He sat down next to her.

"A good thing."

"Yes, good."

"Very good."

"Yes, very good."

They spent their time talking. Soon they noticed the sun going down.

"It's that late already?"

"Must be. The sun wouldn't go down otherwise." She laughed.

"True. But who cares if the sun goes down or not?"

"Certainly not me. Because I always know it'll come back up tomorrow."

_**So true…no matter how bad things may seem, no matter how dark, it always will get better. Always.**_

Meghan was looking out to the rest of the field, when she noticed something.

"Epona?" Link looked where she was looking.

"Oh, it's Epona!"

"I just said that!" Link had gotten up. Epona galloped to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as Epona sniffed his hand and lipped it.

Meghan stood up. "Epona came to see us! She wanted to be sure we were all right!" Meghan went over and started T-touch on Epona. "She's very caring."

"I know…"

Epona seemed like she was smiling with all the attention she was getting.

"It's really weird. When I pamper Epona, she is benefiting from it. But also when I do that, she's making me all relaxed and stuff and I'm benefiting. You know what I mean?"

"Yes."

"It's like the 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' thing."

"Yeah."

Meghan leaned her head against Epona, temporarily taking a break.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes." She said, immediately lifting her head.

"You look tired."

"I'm fine." Link shook his head.

"You really shouldn't push it. You've gone through so much today. No doubt that…the way you changed has taken quite a bit out of you."

"But I feel fine!"

"OK, but you know, it's OK to tell me if you're tired. You never really do. It's not like I'll think you're weak or anything."

Meghan nodded. Suddenly she yawned.

"OK, I am tired. Let's go sit over there." She nodded toward the stonewall thing. Link nodded. He took Epona's reins and led her over. Meghan nearly collapsed onto the wall.

"Meghan!" Link yelled, letting go of Epona and helped Meghan regain her balance.

"Why am I so tired all of a sudden?"

He sat next to her. "You don't look to well."

"I…feel fine, I'm…" Her eyelids started to droop. "Just tired…" she suddenly fell right over. He caught her awkwardly. He thought she was knocked out or something, but the tiny, nearly inaudible snores told him that she was just…sleeping.

"_Meghan, I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fast_." He whispered.

Meghan opened her eyes and found herself in the Garden of the es' Wish. She looked up to the familiar Garden, seeing the flowers in perfect, full bloom. She turned her head towards the gazebo and was surprised. There sat the two figures she had seen before, only now there was a third. This one had bright, green eyes that looked through her soul, it felt. It surprised her more now, because now she knew who these figures were. Or rather, who these es were. They were Nayru, Din, and Farore.

Her body had an urge to bow, to acknowledge their presence, but she didn't let it.

"Please, sit." Said the one with blue eyes. Nayru.

She was confused. First, where were they expecting her to sit, and why were they asking HER to sit in their presence?

"Behind you, and because you'll get tired standing after all the questions you have to ask." Meghan looked behind her and saw the most amazing thing. Stems, roots, vines, and flowers were all growing away from the grounded part of their plant and molding into the shape of a chair. The result was a chair that looked like it was wicker, with flowers molded in between it.

Meghan didn't want to sit, nor did she intend to, but she found herself doing just that. Nayru looked at her very carefully.

"No need to be shy. Please, ask as many questions as you need."

Meghan opened her mouth, but was afraid to say anything. After a look from Nayru, Meghan lowered her head and quietly asked, "Why did you decide to put me here, of all people? Zelda said that you…had a fight or something," she said that extra quietly for fear of offending them, "and put me, of all people, humans on Earth. I mean, if God wanted any harm done, why would he not put somebody who could cause real danger here? Like…some dude with a gun, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, (Sorry if I spelled that wrong) or another terrorist who could really cause harm? Why a harmless little , like me?" Farore laughed.

"_Dear girl, things are done for strange reasons. Although we do not know the human god's real intentions, we do know that he could never really be mad at us. I think he really intended to only cause a little bit of pain. Just a tiny bit. But I think he also knew that in the future, you would do more good than any evil you could do._"

Meghan thought,_ I caused trouble?_

"_Yes, indeed. Do you not remember? You cause trouble for two of the most important people in the land. The Hero of Time, and the Sage of Wisdom, otherwise the Triforce of Courage and Triforce of Wisdom. And also the King of Evil, the Triforce of Power. You had the Hero running everywhere looking for you, dear, and although you don't know this, the Sage of Wisdom was following you for a while._"

"I do remember…" Meghan said out of impulse.

"_Do you understand now_?"

"Yes."

"**You have more to ask**."

"Why did I become a Hylian?"

"**_We thought it was only fitting. You'll be here from now on_**."

"So I was never going to leave?"

"**_No. We do not know why you were so upset. It was never going to happen. We decided when we apologized that you would never leave. And you had that very dream. In the temple of Time._**"

"Oh yeah! But I didn't understand Hylian then."

"**_You don't now too much, either_**."

"Oh, right. I guess…"

"_That's all right. It's all over now, correct_?"

Meghan nodded. "I have a strange question."

"_Go ahead_."

"Why did I happen to land in front of Link when I came here? And how exactly did I come here?"

"**Oh. That would be because in the beginning, we really did not know whom Human God was transporting. We intervened to be sure that the hero of Time could take care whomever was coming. We only found later that it was you**." Din laughed.

"OK."

"_You have more questions_."

"Why didn't I die?"

"_Die? When were you going to die? There was no where in the past in your destiny that said you were going to die."_

"I guess my question is more like, why did I survive. I was so…dead."

"_You were never , as you say. And the reason you survived was because there were people who loved you. People who would have given anything to keep you alive. Including their own lives_."

Meghan smiled. She suddenly remembered that she had been sitting in the very place they were, only a few days ago. She felt special.

"There are more questions."

She thought for a moment.

"Does he forgive me?" She, of course, meant Link.

"For what, my dear?"

"For everything. I've done so much to him. Now that I think about it, when I first came here, I WAS a bit evil."

"_**I think he forgave you for everything before you even did it**._"

"I hope so…"

"_Dear child, don't be so…assuming_!" Nayru said, rising. "_You have done nothing wrong and anything that you have done is ultimately the fault of the gods. We have taken a special liking to you…another question I see searing through your mind…because you were at the mercy of the Hylians. It could have gone any way. We had to be extra careful_." By this time, Nayru was halfway to Meghan. "_At the same time, nothing you did was your fault. You were not supposed to be here, but a destiny has been chosen. This is how you are now. And every move is entirely our doing._" By this point, Nayru was very close to her. She wasn't really walking. Rather, she was…being closer. It was hard to explain. She was neither flying, nor walking. Just MOVING.

Meghan looked down. It was too bright to look at. She was afraid of being unrespectable too. She would have stood up, but Nayru was very close. She was panicking.

"_Do not be so uncomfortable. I will not harm you. And you are not being disrespectful. Now, another question_."

"Why doesn't Link have to eat and stuff and sleep? It seems like the other Hylians have to, and I have to, but he didn't! And now, he sleeps. He never did before."

"_This is because of who he is. The Time Hero. While he was busy being the savior of Hyrule, time passed him by as if he was not there, although he was. This is also the reason for the health…meter, that you call it… It was a way of being when he was not. Time literally passed him by_."

"But then how come the rest of the Hylians don't bleed?"

"_They are different creatures than humans, as you will see. Things work differently for them. This…blood is not an element in their being. They do not require it to live, therefore do not retain it at all."_

Meghan thought for a while. "I think that's all the questions I have. Thank you very much."

"_No. There is one more questions. It ebbs away at your heart, yearning to break free. It is a question you know you have yet cannot be brought to ask. It's deep inside your heart. Look carefully inside yourself_."

Meghan shut her eyes and thought carefully. _Question…what question? Are you sure?_ She asked mentally.

"_Shall I state it?"_

"…Um…"

"_The question you wish to ask. You wonder why Link picked you out of all the ones he could have picked from. Ones that would have made sense_."

Now that she thought of that, she was sort of…curious…as to why.

"Yes. I wonder that."

"_Well, I cannot answer that question_." Meghan looked up suddenly. "_You'll have to ask him yourself_." She turned and was suddenly back with the other two. "_I hope we have answered your questions. If you have any more, we'll be in your dreams_."

Unexpectedly, the chair from underneath Meghan disappeared. She felt like she was going to hit the ground and braced for the pain, but she kept falling. She fell right back into her body. She saw herself sleeping in Link's arms before she went back into her body.

**Yay! Before I leave, I just want to say that in August (I think august fourth to 23rd) I will be in Turkey, so I may not be able to put new chapters up. But believe me, I'll be writing the story like crazy on the plane and I don't know if my grandma still has her computer (most likely not) but if she does, I'll type it up there. I can always sneak over to my aunt's house, which I know has a computer, to check my email and stuff, but don't count on it. I'll probably have at least one more chapter up before I leave, though! OK, bye! **


	64. Happy Birthday!

**Serentiy: …Hmm, that's OK! Thank you so much, that was a very kind review! '**

**Bluedranzer77: …Um, she did? I thought she turned into a Hyliran! XD Never mind. Thanks a lot!**

**Meowzi: Um…nope, not over yet! XD YES! Yeah you spelled it right! And why is it creepy that es talked to her:Blink: No, Link is supposed to be ten at the end. P.S. the sequel's not in MM. **

**Kitana: YAY! Thanks! **

**Kat: you knew it, but you were merely fifty percent sure. No credit for you. BTW why does everyone think that talking to almighty people is creepy? And I was being sarcastic about that review. ;)**

**ZeldaFreak123: Hi new reviewer! You get pelted with Turkish foods! Thank you so much! **

**OK…now that that's over…do you guys remember what today is? Heh heh…**

"Hey Meghan, wake up."

Meghan groaned and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Link's face. Her ear hurt, she soon came to notice. She must have slept on it funnily. (O.o that is a strange word…just say it…funnily, funnily…)

"Happy birthday," he said, producing a bouquet of flowers. Still half asleep, she yawned and sat up.

"Thanks. But you didn't have to get me anything."

"Is that really considered getting you something? Now you make me feel bad. I have another present for you." He sat on the bed next to her.

"Where am I?" she said, changing the subject. She sniffed the flowers without even looking up.

"Use your eyes. I know that's why you have them."

"I know where we are, I just had to change the subject. These flowers are beautiful. Thank you so much." They were the mini roses with no thorns that she saw in the Garden of the es' Wish.

She finally became conscious to the fact that she was actually where she was, even though she previously knew where she was.

"Hey, I'm in your house."

"Yes," he said, rolling his eyes slightly.

She took another sniff of the flowers. "How did I get here?"

"You fell asleep on me last night. Literally. You fell like…completely knocked out."

"OK." She wasn't sure if she should mention the dream. She saw no problem with it, but she felt that maybe the es might not like it…or something.

"Kelle ae nautil vieh bensai, ali ushe maliu'zu kigo, maff aoa. Zou, ali Triforce'zu ubela, itsuy'zu desdu pariya'zu den onsel." (O.o I found this on a website. It's not real Hylian, mind you, but it was pretty so I put it here! Some dude on a website made up words for the whole language…O.o…all fake, though! )

"Whoa, what does that mean?"

"Hmm, just some random thing that popped into my mind. It means…in a realm beyond sight, the sky shines gold, not blue. There, the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true."

"…Uh…and where did this come from?" She became worried for a second that maybe he knew about her dream. She hoped not. It would be most embarrassing.

"An old story. I read it one time. It stuck in my mind."

"I thought things didn't stick in your mind like that."

"Rather, I should say, I made it stick in my mind."

Meghan laughed, leaning her head on Link's shoulder, relieved he didn't know. "Thanks for the flowers, again."

"Anytime," he said cheerfully. "Now, you have to come with me. I have another present for you!" He stood up, nearly making her fall. His eyes immediately became wide as he helped her from falling. He laughed mischievously. Meghan gave him a weird look.

"OK, where are we going?"

"Lon Lon Ranch," he said with a huge smile.

Meghan laughed again, standing. "Why is it there?"

"I hid it there."

"And I was going to look for it? You know I didn't want anything. Why would I bother looking for it?"

"Because…I don't know! You're going to make me tell you sooner! Just come before I spoil it!"

"Fi-WHOA!" He had pulled her with such force towards the door, it shocked her. As she regained her balance, he pulled her out the door and almost pushed her down the stairs, but she stopped him. "Link! Oh my god! What are you so excited about?"

He started to jump up and down. "Come on come on!"

"Wow, did you have sugar today?"

"No! Come on come on!"

"OK! OK!" She descended the ladder as he stopped jumping. Link followed quickly after her.

"Come on! We must hurry!" He pulled her and started running.

"Dude, are you sure you didn't eat anything today?" she asked as they ran.

"Nothing sugary! The only thing I had to eat today was a kamamelon!"

"What the heck is a kamamelon?"

"It's a fruit!"

"Does it have caffeine in it?"

"What's caffeine?"

"Well, fruit has sugar in it! You did have sugar today!" Suddenly he stopped.

"You know, the strangest thing happened this morning! When I went to go get your flowers, I was suddenly hungry. So I stopped by Hyrule Castle Town and bought a kamamelon! Funny, though. I ate it all. Sorry I didn't give any to you. I'm sure you would have liked to try it. But I haven't been hungry since…only the es know!"

"God, Link. You definitely had sugar."

He grinned and pulled her arm. "Come ON! We can't keep Malon waiting for us!"

"OK!" So they exited the forest and eventually (some time later) reached Lon Lon Ranch.

As they entered, Link gave her directions. "OK. Stay here. Don't move." He placed her (literally) next to the door into Malon's house. "I get Malon, you stay," he said.

"Why do you need Malon?"

"Because she hid your present somewhere so I couldn't be tempted to tell you if you asked."

"O…K…"

"Great! I'll be right back." He threw the door open and ran inside. Then he backtracked (walking backwards), closed the door, and then ran inside to get Malon.

Meghan giggled. A few seconds later, Link returned with Malon.

"OK, I'll go get…" He realized Meghan was listening. "It."

"I'll stay here." Malon smiled at Meghan. "He's been so proud of himself when he thought of the present."

Meghan laughed even more. "I told him he didn't have to get me anything, but he's too sweet."

"Yes," Malon agreed.

Not too long after, Link appeared, leading Galaxy. He had a big grin on his face.

"But Link, you said that you hid the present here!" Meghan said. Link's smile faded.

"I did…" he said, nodding. Malon started laughing.

"Meghan, don't you-"

"Wait! Malon, don't tell her." He smiled again. Meghan looked from Link to Malon.

"What?"

Link walked up to her, leaving Galaxy. He put his hands on her shoulders and said with a sigh, "Meghan. Meghan, Meghan, Meghan."

"Yeah?"

"What did I say we came here to do?"

"Um, you said you were going to…give me a present?" she asked.

"Yes. And why did I leave and leave you with Malon so you would not follow me?"

"Um…to get the present?"

"Exactly. And now I'm back. Now. I have nothing in this pocket," he said, putting his hand in a pocket and bringing out nothing, "and I have nothing in this pocket." He did the same to the other. "I don't have anything on me." He spun around in a circle. Meghan started to understand. "And what did I bring back?"

"No way! You…you…Galaxy…"

"Galaxy is now all yours," Malon said, unable to hold it in any longer.

Meghan's mouth opened wide, and then formed a smile.

"No way!" she repeated, jumping up and down. "Thank you so much! Aw, thanks so much! Thank you so much! Thanks! So much!" She hugged Link, nearly knocking him down. "Gaah! Sorry. GalGal, did you hear? You're mine!" She hugged him around the neck, surprising him too. "Oh and thank you, Malon!"

"He's been planning this since the day you met Galaxy. Actually before that. The whole reason he came here that day is so you could pick out a horse you liked. That gave him an idea of which horse to…um…" she refrained from saying, "buy," just as Link had told her to, "get for you."

That was also the reason Link had gone to Lon Lon Ranch that time, without Meghan. He had gone to ask Malon if he could purchase a horse for her. (Not to ask if she could live there, silly people!)

"Galaxy. Can you believe this? You're mine now! Now we can go on all sorts of adventures and stuff! This is great! Oh I love you, Galaxy." She hugged him again. She stopped then turned to Link. "I love you too!" she said happily, throwing her arms up.

Malon thought she meant it…metaphorically, not really realizing the extent of their feelings. Link knew, however, that although she said it in a comical way, she meant it for its true meaning.

"Of course, Meghan, if you ever want to leave Galaxy and his tack here, feel free to. Also, his tack is in the tack room."

"Great! I'll go get it." Meghan skipped away.

"Thanks again, Malon."

"Of course," she said, smiling. Meghan came back a few seconds later with Galaxy's saddle and other things. She put everything on while Link found Epona. When he came back with her, Meghan mounted Galaxy and Link did the same with Epona.

"Bye, Malon, thank you so much!" Meghan said.

"You're welcome! Bye Meghan! Bye Link!"

"Bye," Link said.

Meghan rushed out of Lon Lon Ranch, ready to explode at Link for doing that.

"Gaah! Link! You spent your money on getting me a horse? Why? I mean, I love Galaxy oh so much, but…"

"Meghan, it's your birthday, relax."

"I know but-"

"Relax."

"Yeah-"

"RELAX."

"OK." She calmed. They rode around the field, not going too far. Meghan was now excited that she wouldn't have to give Galaxy back to Malon. (Oh how opinions change.)

They eventually made their way to the place where Meghan remembered first being. Straight out of the nowhere, seeing Link playing his ocarina.

"Link, what song were you playing?"

"What? When?"

"When I first saw you."

"I don't…remember."

"Wasn't it…the Song of…Time? I think it was. But…"

"Yeah?"

"What if it wasn't?" Suddenly she was freaking out about not knowing. "I can't remember!"

"Whoa, calm down! It's not the end of the world. Anyway, I think you're right."

"Good." Meghan dismounted. Link followed. "I like that song."

"It's fitting, too. It just reminds me of how fast time goes…and…sometimes it makes me sad. Even though I am who I am…" he was too modest to say "Hero of Time," "I can't control it. Time just slips through our fingers." He held his hand up with his palm upward and his fingers spread apart slightly, as if to pretend that time was slipping through them. The sands of time…

"But that's not an issue," he said suddenly. "Time is also our friend, for without it, we'd be bored to !"

Meghan laughed. "You are definitely not having any more melon things."

"Aw, man."

"Hmp," she laughed. "But I like you liked this."

"Hey, you're 'hyper' most of the time, why not give me a chance?" He grinned.

Meghan went and sat on the wall, her hands behind her butt and her right leg crossed over her left. Link, of course, followed her and sat next to her. Meghan watched Galaxy graze.

"Link, thank you so much. That was definitely the best gift I have ever received."

"Ever? I'm sure something was better."

"Nope. Nothing comes close."

"Do you believe anything in the future could ever be a better gift?"

"In the future? I dunno…" She stared at Galaxy.

"What about this?" he asked, taking out something. She turned her head, not yet expecting anything, but then she realized what he was talking about.

"But Link! I told you not to get me anything!" She flung her arms around his neck, her legs becoming uncrossed, squeezing him tight without even taking what he was going to give her.

"Goddesses, you're choking me."

"Sorry," she said, letting go.

"So I assume you like it?"

"Yeah…I do! A lot! Thank you!" He handed the object to her. She examined it.

It was the necklace she had seen in the bazaar, with the lady who had tricked her with Link. It had a silver chain, and a silver pendant. The pendant was a treble clef, and it had diamonds along it. She had loved it, but she couldn't ask him for it.

"Remember the day you saw it?"

"And the lady really COULD speak Hylian, but you lied to me!" she joked. (See Day Five Pt. 2 if you don't remember that scene…)

"It's yours now."

"Thank you, thank you so much!" she said, trying to undo the clasp to put it on. She was having a bit of trouble, and it was embarrassing.

"Here, let me try," he said quietly, gently pulling the necklace from her hands. He quickly undid the clasp. He looked up. She knew that he was going to put it on for her, so she pulled her hair to the side. He reached forward, but didn't put it on.

"I never really wanted to ask before, but I'm sure you don't mind. Why do you wear these?" He fingered the bottom most choker she had on. She put his hand over his.

"I don't know," she said frankly. "I've had them on since I was…like, thirteen, I think. I'm surprised they didn't fall off."

"That's quite a long time."

"It's around the time I started wearing black."

"That explains it."

"I think it was a bit before. I actually remember that I only had one that was a dark blue that I made. Then I put this one on," she moved her hand from on top of his, allowing him to pull away, and touched the lower, looser bottom one. At this point, she turned and sat cross-legged on the wall. "You can tell. I've had it the longest, I mean. Then I put this one on," she touched the next upper one, which looked like the bottom one, only it was slighter thicker and tighter and higher on her neck. "And then the third one." the last and highest was one of those "fake tattoo" necklaces. It had an inter-weaving pattern that became tighter if you pulled more, and looser if it had less strain. "But you didn't really want to hear that."

"No," he said, leaning forward and putting his hands around her neck to put the necklace on, "I enjoy hearing about you," he whispered in her ear, as she felt him close the clasp on the necklace on the back of her neck. He brought his hands back to himself, sliding the across the skin of her neck.

She gasped, not expecting him to do something so…

Those were those eyes. Those hypnotizing eyes. She knew that look. She could feel the color rising in her cheeks, because she finally figured out what they meant. For a whole week, the week before, she couldn't look at his eyes. She couldn't stare into their endless sea of blue. But it had gone away when…

…After…

…It had happened.

She finally knew what it meant, and it wasn't a mere guess. She knew exactly.

He wanted…

**…Oh my gosh! You'll just have to wait a while to see what he wants. Seriously, it's not hard to figure out…**

AND…thi is a really short chapter. I must admit that I have been neglecting my writing duties…like that time I brushed my teeth for ten minutes straight…(I swear they were whiter afterward!)  
OK, WHATEVER…BYE! I won't see ya until I'm back from Turkey most likely!


	65. Party Time!

**HIII! I'm back! Yay! Vacation rocked. ;) OK, so FINALLY I finished it. Sorry for the super-huge wait… .  
About the chappie…YOU guys might like it. I'm not particularly proud of what I made them do in this chapter, but yeah. I skipped a part that was supposed to be at the end of this chapter because it was taking so long…so that'll be the first thing in the next chapter.  
On we go!**

**Oh yeah, and some of you guessed right.  
AND please note both songs in this chapter are by ME! Oh and this is the longest chapter yet. 44 pages. The whole story is 368 pages to date. (phew) OMG I just realized that this is chapter thirty:o Only a few more left to go! (cries like crazy) But then it's sequel time! (Which I already started to write months ago. ') **

…

His lips gently met hers. She didn't know what to do. She had only been kissed once before, yesterday, but that was merely on impulse, and she was barely conscious to it at the time.

In her confusion, she gently broke off. He looked strange, and she feared to have upset him.

"I'm sorry, Link. I just became confused." She looked down. "I didn't know what to do. Sorry if I offended you. I've just never been…nobody's ever done that to me before, except yesterday. I didn't want you to stop but I don't know what to do!" she said exasperatedly. Her expression changed to one that looked like she was about to cry.

His shocked and hurt look faded away, as he smiled. She looked sorry for breaking away.

"That's OK," he said. "I've never either. So if we mess up, we can't blame anybody."

He had said it in such a cheerful voice that she looked up at him. Meghan was a bit uncomfortable with the topic. But he made it better.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for understanding. I didn't mean to…it's just…"

"No, but seriously, Meg, relax today! Why do you think I would care? I love you! But relax."

It was also awkward that…well, the fact that somebody loved her. She never thought, in any of her sixteen years, that anyone could. But now…he was here, and that was all that mattered.

"Thank you, Link. I'll never take this off. I love you too. It's a promise."

"Yep," he said comically.

She laughed. "I'll race you on GalGal again!"

"Fine, but you know I'll win."

"We'll see about that…" She stood up and clutched the necklace, walking over to the grazing horses. "Gal! We're gonna race!" she said in his ear. Galaxy lifted his head up and looked at her with endless, dark, blue eyes. "We're going to beat the pants off the very same person who gave us so much." Galaxy looked at her as though to say that they had a very little chance. "I know, but we can do it!" He snorted. "Good boy!"

She looked at Link, doing the same thing. Psyching up his horse. She mounted.

"OK, where are we going?"

"Let's go to the desert. The first one over the bridge wins."

"That's far."

"Oh well. Make it a long race! It's fair, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Navi?"

"Do I have to be the 'fereree' again?"

"It's a referee."

"Yes, that's what I meant. I'll do it."

"Cool."

"Line up!" Navi said, flying in front of them. "On your marks? Get ready…GO!" Meghan and Link pushed the horses forwards, leaving Navi in the dust.

Meghan didn't want to push Gal too far, so she paced him. Link seemed to be getting ahead. But she didn't care. It was merely the beginning.

"Galaxy, we have to win this no matter what." She knew she was being rash, but…

She was a bit behind Link, Galaxy's head near Epona's saddle. But she didn't care just yet.

Suddenly, she found herself daydreaming…

_It's not like…you see it all the time…on TV…his kisses are gentle…soft…nice. Not "Hey, I'm eating your face! Eat mine!" No…oh, wait! What am I thinking? I need to finish this race!_ She felt herself blushing. She was happy he wasn't looking. She looked down at Galaxy's neck, the wind blowing her hair all over the place.

As she looked down, she remembered Link and how hyper he was this morning. Then she remembered the melon, and had a sudden craving for watermelon.

She shook the thought away. _Need to focus on the darn race!_ She was catching up to Link and Epona now. Navi flew excitedly between them, weaving in and out of the legs of the horses.

"We're almost there!' Navi said.

"What the heck are you talking about, Navi? We're not even halfway there!"

"I know but this is boring." She flew in front of Meghan's face.

"OK!"

"No just kidding." She flew away, laughing.

"What was that about?"

"She's just crazy," Link said, smiling. Meghan could tell it was a smile even from her position slightly behind him.

"Am not!"

"Oh, don't worry, Navi. We're all crazy. Join the bunch!"

"Fine."

They once again rode in silence, for most of the way there. Meghan could see the sweat forming on Epona and Galaxy's coats, but they were about three quarters of the way there.

The desert sands came in view, and Meghan sighed with relief. Only a bit more to go…

She was still holding her position slightly behind Link. Now Meghan knew she had to get ahead, because the end was near.

"Come on, Gal!"

Link looked back at her, and then smiled his smile.

"You'll never catch up."

"Oh…I won't?" But already she was going faster. She was nearly in line with Link.

"This is going to be close!" squeaked Navi.

"Yeah," Meghan started, looking at Link, whose face was directly across from hers, and smiling a devious smile while narrowing her eyes, "but I conquer all."

"Since when?"

"Since now!" There was about twenty yards before the field's grass intermingled with the desert's sand. They were neck and neck. "And I'd be careful this time, Link. You know what happened last time when we tried to fit in a rough spot."

The memory came clear to him…

FLASHBACK…

They were in the last few yards. Link and Epona went slightly ahead of Meghan and Galaxy.

The next thing she knew, Link had crossed the tree just before her. But because the area was so small, Galaxy couldn't fit side by side with Meghan. He had to make a fast stop. Link quickly realized this and tried moved Epona so Galaxy could have room. They were so close to colliding Meghan squeezed her eyes shut and braced for what was to happen.

Galaxy's hooves slid on the floor as he tried to stop. Meghan held on to the reins tight, knowing she couldn't do much. Epona whinnied and reared, as did Galaxy. Meghan opened her eyes, as she couldn't hold on to Galaxy anymore. She slid off.

"Epona! Whoa! It's OK." She heard Link's voice and opened her eyes. She found herself leaning against the Kaepora Tree. She felt hot, moist air on her forehead.

"Ick…Galaxy?"

"No! Galaxy!" Link grabbed Galaxy's reins, while trying to keep Epona under control. "Meghan, are you all right? You fell pretty hard." He asked, his back to her while trying to keep two horses under control.

"Ow…yeah. I'm fine." She said as she got up. Her back hurt. "Stinky." She hurried over stiffly and got Galaxy.

"Are you sure?" He said, not letting go of him.

"Yeah. I just fell."

"And then lost consciousness."

END OF THE FLASHBACKY THINGY!

Link became scared of what could happen this time. If they fell off…it would be down into the river. _If she landed wrong…she could get seriously hurt…and even before that is the little bridge…_

"Meg, I think we should change our finishing place. It could be dangerous, like last time."

"No! Danger is fun! Except when you're in it…"

"Exactly! Can we please change it?"

"What…are you scared?"

"No! I'm not scared for myself. I'm scared for you! The bridge isn't wide enough for two horses!"

"Then the first one to cross it wins!" she taunted.

"Meghan, stop it! Listen to me!" he said seriously.

"Fine!"

"The first one past the last fence before the little bridge wins."

"Fine." She was silent from then on, silently coaxing Galaxy. Link relaxed.

"Thanks for listening to me."

"Yup," she said distractedly. They were nearer to the finish than she had anticipated, so now it was time to see what Galaxy really had in him.

"Come on, Gal! Time to show those wusses what the underdogs can do!" Galaxy's pace quickened to an all-out run. Meghan held tight to the reins, as they passed Epona and Link.

The best part Link that Link wasn't even holding back. Meghan and Galaxy were winning on their own power.

"Yes! Galaxy, we're doing it! For once! We're beating them!" Meghan whispered to him. She felt the heavy pounding of Galaxy's hooves against the ground. She was _winning._ There were only a few feet keeping her from victory.

She could see the finish…she could imagine the rush of winning. It was so close…

…And with a surge of glory, she passed it nearly a whole horse in front of Link. They passed into the valley, the horses damp with much sweat and breathing heavily. They both dismounted, patting their horses and loosening their girths. Then they walked to each other and embraced each other, falling to the floor and breathing as though they had just been the ones to run the whole way.

"Congratulations," said the boy. He held her tight in his arms.

"Thank you," said the (girl) , savoring his embrace. And they were very happy people.

Especially Meghan.

She breathed in his scent…it was so…nice. She couldn't explain it, but she wanted for and more. Yet she thought she would look freaky breathing him in…

So she stopped. Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You…you…I…I…I don't know! Je ne sais pas…bilmiyorum…"

He laughed too. "That's OK." They pulled away. Meghan took a handful of sand and dumped it on his shoe. He didn't seem to mind.

The sand was fine and powdery, unlike the coarse type you would find at a beach.

"Hmm…" he said suddenly, taking her hand. "I just remembered. I ran into Zelda this morning…"

FLASHBACK…

Link walked towards the small stand, selling the flowers that he intended to buy for Meghan. In his hand was a half eaten melon.

"Link! Oh thank the ((goddesses)) I found you!"

"Zelda?" Link turned. Zelda was in the form of sheik. "I mean Sheik!"

"Link! I have to tell you something! I know that today is Meghan's birthday. So I have something to give her! And I have something planned too. As long as you don't either. Can I tell you? But you must not tell her. Is she here?" She nervously glanced around. Link stared at her as though thinking, then smiled.

"What? Nope. She's still sleeping." He tossed the melon up then caught it. "So what's the plan?" Sheik leaned in towards him and told of her diabolical (not really) plan. Link nodded and smiled every once in a while.

"I don't know…I don't know if she'll like it…OK! Let's do it!"

"Good. Thanks."

"Yup, yup, yup, yup…" he said, waving his hand.

"Link…is that a kamamelon?"

"What? Yeah."

"Shame on you." Suddenly she broke off a piece and ate it. "Not sharing. Well…see you!" Sheik skipped (and it did look weird) back to the castle.

(A/N-I hope by now you're seeing what this cool fruit does to you…)

"…She wanted you to go to the castle later."

"OK."

"We should start going. By the time we have put the horses away, it will be time to be there." They stood up.

LATER, AT LON LON RANCH…

Meghan and Link brought Epona and Galaxy into their stalls. Meghan carefully groomed Galaxy, starting with the rougher brush she took from the bucket of grooming supplies. Then she removed the dirt with the soft one.

She heard the door open behind her. Malon walked in.

"Hi, Malon!"

"Meghan, I nearly forgot. Your present! Before I forgot…and well, how very foolish of me. Here, these are for you." Malon gave her a large square package, wrapped in brown paper. Meghan giggled.

"Malon, you shouldn't have."

"You need to open it before you say that!" Malon joked. She heard Link chuckle.

"Fine." Meghan carefully tore the paper back, not wanting to seem greedy. Inside was a box. She opened the box. Inside were feed buckets. She took them out, all stacked neatly. It was black, not matching the rest of the feed buckets around, and had Galaxy's name printed on each of them on a silver plate near the top.

"Thank you!" She said. She never thought a feed bucket could be so pretty. Obviously she was mistaken.

"Hold on, there's more!" Meghan looked in the box. She saw what she hadn't noticed. Inside were new brushes for Galaxy, matching the buckets. They were black, with shiny, smooth handles, and Galaxy's name engraved into them, painted silver. Meghan swooned over the brushes.

"Oh THANK you Malon!"

"One more thing," Malon said. Meghan realized her other hand was still behind her back. She brought it where Meghan could see. "A new saddle blanket to match. Now you can give me mine back," she joked. Meghan thought she would faint from the stroke of happiness. She jumped up and down, taking the present as Malon handed it to her. It was beautiful. It was black and had "Galaxy" sewn into the top in silver thread.

"Malon, thank you so much!" Meghan skipped forward and hugged her.

"Of course! It's your birthday. Now, you'll have to excuse me. I left the stove on with my dinner. I only just left to give you this. Happy birthday!"

"Thank you so much, Malon!"

But Meghan did not know that, instead of returning to her house, she mounted her own horse, who was waiting outside the door, and rode off to the castle.

"Come on, Sepira, we don't have much time! Link will hold her off for as long as possible."

MEANWHILE…

Meghan took one of the new brushes and brushed Galaxy's mane and tail out. She'd always told herself that if she had a horse, she'd braid it and stuff to make it all pretty. She started doing a French braid on his tail. Her time with horses taught her never to stand directly behind a horse, so she stood slightly to the side as she braided it. Meghan did her best to make the braid as neat as possible, but she couldn't help that little strands fell out here and there. When she was done, she started to panic because she had nothing to tie it with. She rummaged around in the box of grooming supplies, looking for something. Near the bottom, she found lengths of black and silver ribbons, which matched the new everything else she got. She sighed with relief, tying the braid to the best of her ability.

"_Malon thinks of everything_," she whispered to the ribbons, "_I'll get better_," she whispered to the braid. She moved to his mane. She made lots of tiny, tight braid on his mane. His hair was beautiful to work with. It was black, thick, and shiny. Horsehair often reminded her of hay. His reminded her of…silk.

She glanced over to Link, to make sure she wasn't taking too long. Galaxy seemed to be enjoying himself.

She was reassured when she realized that Link was still grooming Epona. After all, she was a bigger horse.

Meghan left Galaxy in his stall and walked to Epona's. The door had closed on its own, so she leaned over it.

"Are you done?" he asked, finishing brushing by her bottom.

"Yup." She observed Epona's white, silky hair. The color was like the opposite of Galaxy's. She reached out and stroked Epona's face, as Link put away the brushes. He let himself out and they walked out of the stable.

"So what did Zelda want me for?"

"Oh, come on! It's not too hard to guess."

Meghan snorted. "You're right. Zelda," she said in a mock angry voice. "Hey Link."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you so much."

"Anytime. Who else do I have to pamper on her birthday?"

She giggled. Soon they were at the castle. There seemed to be a lot going on. People were coming in and out of the castle.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," he lied. Because he knew exactly what. "Let's get inside."

"All right…" They avoided people, making their way into the castle.

"Zelda said to meet her in her room."

"OK." Meghan led the way to her room. (Remember, she now knows where it is. ) Link knocked on it.

"Come in, Link, Meghan." They opened the door slowly. Zelda sat in her sitting room, alone. "Wonderful to see you." She stood up.

"Hi Zelda. What's with all the people?"

"They're here to help me do things."

Meghan was about to ask, "THAT many people?" but held back.

"Now. Let me get to the reason I asked you to come here." Zelda walked to the back of the room. Meghan was unsure whether to follow her or not, but Link stayed where he was, so she did too.

"This is for you." She turned around with a case in her hands.

"Zelda!" she said, as Zelda handed it to her.

Zelda smiled. "Open it, go ahead."

The case was black and hard. It was long and rectangular. Meghan undid the two silver clasps, thinking how most of her presents today matched. (A/N: No, seriously…I didn't do it purposely. Just all the presents I planned to give her happened to match…so I figured, why not what Malon gave her too? )

She slowly opened the case, not knowing what to expect inside. She was surprised.

"It's so beautiful!" she cried, pulling out the pieces of a silver flute. She looked at it, remembering the sound of a flute. She gently fingered the keys, which were similar to the one she had, but slightly different. Nothing she couldn't figure out, though. "Thank you so much."

She had so many memories surge back to her…she put the flute together as Link held the case. Lining the mouthpiece up with the keys, she lifted the flute to her mouth and released the air necessary to play it. A beautiful sound came out, one that her flute at home could not compare to. She observed it. It was beautiful.

"My gosh, Zelda. Thanks so much."

"Of course." Zelda and Link looked at each other. Zelda gave the tiniest nod. Link nodded back.

"M-"

"Oh, yeah. There was something I wanted to show you in my room. I don't know Hylian so I couldn't understand it. Could you guys help me?"

"Yeah!" That was perfect, because her room was exactly where they wanted to go.

"But Meghan. I must decline. I must go help all the people who came. Perhaps later I will join you."

"OK." Meghan said, slightly disappointed.

"Wonderful! Now you two run along!" Zelda said, smiling greatly. They turned and left. Zelda sighed with relief. "You can come out now," Zelda said. The door to her bedroom opened and revealed a group of girls.

Nabooru, Saria, Malon, Narma, Ruto, and Dia, holding Saria's hand, made up the group.

"That was close," Ruto said.

"Good thing Malon saw them coming," Nabooru said. Malon blushed.

"Good. Now we need to get back to what we were doing. Is it ready, everybody?" They nodded. "Wonderful. Now, Dia, do you remember what you're to do?"

"Yes, Princess Zelda."

"Come here." Zelda kneeled down to Dia's height as she ran over to her. "Good ((.girl.)). Now, we're going to wait a little bit. Then when we're ready, you do what I told you to."

"Yes, of course!"

"Great."

MEANWHILE…

Meghan let Link into her room.

"It's over here!" She walked over to the desk, pulling out one of the drawers and opening the false bottom. She pulled out the diary and letters.

"What is this?"

"I don't know. I think there's something in that book that can tell us. There's a ((.girl.)). She wrote letters to Impa." She handed the book to Link, who walked over to the couch and sat down, opening the book.

He observed the first page. It was dated. The date was about six years ago. As he read the contents, his expression turned very serious.

"What does it say?" she questioned, sitting at the chair of the desk.

"Um…maybe I should wait till later to tell you."

He knew at that point what he had to do, but he didn't want to worry Meghan about it now. Perhaps tomorrow he would tell her.

"No! Come on! Tell me!"

"I-" But then they heard a small knock at the door. Very quiet. It was persistent. Link got up and opened the door, knowing exactly what to do.

"Mister Link, Mister Link! My brother and some boys are in a fight and they need you to stop them and please come because they're hurting each other!" The child who was at the door started to cry. Meghan saw it was Dia.

"Meghan, I'll be right back. You stay here while I go. It'll only take a few minutes."

"I'll come."

"No, stay here with Dia."

"OK…" That was one of the few times he had been so assertive with her. She became scared he was angry with her for something. "Dia, come sit with me, OK?" She went over to the couch and Dia sat next to her as Link closed the door behind him and left.

Waiting just around the first corner, where Meghan couldn't see if she opened the door, were Zelda, the other ((.girls.)), and Luke.

"It's done."

"Great!" Nabooru said. "Now, you sure the door will open for us?"

"I changed the lock temporarily so Saria can open it. The rest of you cannot open it."

"All right. Come on," Saria said, feeling special that she was so important. Malon was holding something carefully. Nabooru had a small, wooden box. They went to the door and opened it. Link and Luke went the opposite way down the hallway. Zelda waited until the group was admitted into Meghan's room to go back to her own room, because Meghan would be able to see her if she didn't.

"Meghan! Darling, happy birthday!" Nabooru said. Meghan nodded.

_There are two Gerudos in the room. That is not good. What are these people doing here?_ Then she noticed Saria behind the bunch.

"Meghan, we have something for you to try on," Malon said, holding the wrapped thing she was holding slightly out. Meghan stared at it.

Girls+trying on clothes+Meghan, shopaphobic+Gerudo bloodMeghan runs away forever.

"Um…" They were all smiling at her expectantly. Even Dia was looking at her. "Why?" she finally said.

"Well you need to try it on in case you ever need to wear it," Ruto said. Meghan wasn't convinced.

"O…K…and may I ask what it is?"

"So you're agreeing to try it on?"

"I just want to know what it is that I'm trying on," she said skeptically. She had noticed the box in Nabooru's hands as well as what Malon held.

"You must agree first."

"You must tell me what it is first."

"Agree?"

"No. Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me." She stood up. Dia scrambled to Saria. "Or I'll find out by myself." Meghan stared into Nabooru's eyes, not afraid.

"No."

Meghan was beaten. There were five (girls) surrounding her. She sighed.

"Fine."

"Good. Follow us." Nabooru started walking, confidently, towards Meghan's bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I don't think you're going to change out here, in the open." She was right. There were large windows, and a door to the balcony in the room.

"Fine." She walked after Nabooru, followed by the others. "But I hope you realize I'm also not getting changed in front of you, for whatever it is."

"Why not? We're all .girls."

"But I'm a human." Someone behind her wiggled her ear.

"Not anymore," Narma said. "It's a little sad that you grew out of short ears, but…we'll live, won't we?"

Nabooru's malicious green eyes stared at her, smiling. She knew Meghan was losing rapidly.

Meghan begrudgingly stepped into her own room, practically held captive. Ruto stayed outside with Dia.

Meghan was stuck with two Gerudos who may as well could have been foaming at the mouth, a shy Hylian animal lover, who could be strict as anything in a second, and a short little kid who was really not a kid and mature for her "age."

"This better be good," Meghan said, trying her best to sound uncompromising and firm. She crossed her arms.

"Yes, it is!" Saria said. "It's beautiful!" Narma took the thing from Malon's hands. She took the protective bag-covering thing from around it and held it so Meghan could see. Meghan backed into the corner, trying to emphasize her despise.

"No. Way. No fricken way. No."

"Aw, come on!" Saria pleaded. "You'll look lovely!"

For the thing they had uncovered was a gown, even worse than the dress she had to wear the other day to dinner with Zelda and Luke.

She covered her face, shielding her eyes from its horror.

"Get it away!" she hissed. She felt two strong hands grab her arms and pull her away from the wall. She opened her eyes to see Narma and Nabooru, each tugging at an arm and bringing her to Malon, who was holding the dress again. "Tell me why I have to withstand this torture on my birthday."

"You'll see."

"What are you doing? I don't like when you plan things, Nabooru."

"But I didn't plan it. Zelda did."

Those words alone made Meghan slightly less resistant. "Really?"

"Yes," Saria confirmed. Malon nodded and Narma muttered "mm-hmm."

"OK…"

"Great! She'll cooperate! Amazing how she listens to Zelda but not us," Nabooru said. "Well, take those clothes off."

"In FRONT of you?"

"Why not? We need to help you put it on anyway. It's a real pain."

"Grr…" She crossed her arms. "No. Either you leave, or I'm not getting dressed."

"Keep your underclothes on anyway. Oh, yes, we should probably throw you in the bath…"

"No!"

"Kidding, my darling. Though…it wouldn't be a bad idea. In fact, yes…yes…"

"Yes ma'am!" Saria, Narma and Malon said, taking Meghan by her arms.

"_Resistance is futile_," Narma whispered playfully in her ear. Meghan shivered at her cold, harsh voice. They passed by Dia and Ruto in the main room on their way to the bathroom. Meghan wondered why the bathroom wasn't attached to her room. Now, when she needed it to be.

Nabooru left the dress on her bed and grabbed some things from her drawers, helping herself. (Gee, must be nice living with all those girls.)

When Ruto heard that Meghan was going to take a bath, she just had to join in, and so Saria stayed behind to sit with Dia.

They got the water running and the bath filled. Now was the hard part. Getting Meghan in.

"Come on, Meghan. It's your birthday. Don't wanna waste it."

"Why are you torturing me like this?" She backed into the corner, slowly being followed by the others. She hit the wall and had nowhere left to run.

"There. Now, take the sword off and any other things you wouldn't want to get wet."

"No!"

"Do it."

"…Eeruuuh…" she moaned, taking off her backpack, undoing the sword and putting it on the floor. They nodded in approval. Then she took off her gloves, throwing them in a pile on top of the other stuff. Then she bent down, still watching everyone, and undid her boots, easing them off and pushing them to the side.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Put these on," Nabooru said while holding out some clothes. She snatched them from her and examined them. Her eyes narrowed in disgust. She wondered where the heck Nabooru found them. Meghan nearly dropped them on the floor, but she would have been very evil and bratty if she did that. She was holding a frilly white undershirt and frilly white underwear. "Go ahead."

"Turn around," she said, pointing to the opposite wall. Malon was the first to turn, followed by Ruto and soon after, Narma. Nabooru looked scathingly at her, then turned.

Meghan almost didn't do it. She had a horrible plan of making them wait, then finally turn out of anger and boredom to see that she had not even attempted to change. But she didn't want to be so mean.

_Whatever this is, Zelda planned it, so I know it's not their fault. Still, I wish they would tell me. Are we, like, going to go somewhere? Why do I have to wear that hideous gown thing? Darn them._

She slowly slid off her shirt, trying to make as little noise as possible. She kept her eyes on them as much as possible, making sure they didn't turn.

NOW it was time to put her evil pan into action, she thought. She could make them wait and tell them she wasn't ready. And then make them wait forever. Or she could sneak over to the bathtub. The way it was designed, she could sneak past Nabooru if she was quiet, jump in, and when they heard the splash; they would never have to see her. Perfect.

She snuck over to the bath. Nabooru caught her just before she hopped in, but the others didn't. She still got in safely.

"Meghan!"

"Leave me alone! Can't I take a bath by myself? I just turned sixteen!"

"Nope," Malon said. Nabooru was checking out her collection of shampoos and things. She found some things she liked and brought them over to Meghan.

"I'll wash the unruly hair of yours. First you'll need to get it wet." Only the bottom half of her hair had gotten wet enough. "Put your head under the water."

"No!"

"Nabooru, I'll do it," Ruto said, conjuring water with her sage magic and pouring it over Meghan's head. It was cold. She shivered, water dripping down her angry face.

"Thanks, Ruto." She grabbed Meghan's head and pulled back her hair. Meghan cringed. She felt Nabooru scrubbing her head. Scary. Can you imagine the torture?

"Are you done yet?"

"Nearly."

"Hurry please." She closed her eyes just in time as a jet of water flew from Ruto onto her head, rinsing the shampoo and stuff. She pushed her hair back from her face, blowing water away from her mouth.

"All finished." Malon stepped up to her with a bathrobe.

"Everybody turn around!"

"Why? You have clothes on."

"Because," she grumbled through gritted teeth. "Please." Malon handed it to her and they turned Meghan stood up and wrapped it around her, still dripping wet. She stepped out of the bathtub, squeezing her hair so the water came out. She was dragged back into the main sitting area.

"Sit in the chair." Nabooru said, pulling the chair from the desk to her.

"Gee, you'd think there'd be a whole room in this castle for doing hair…and another for makeup…" Meghan joked.

"There is. We just thought you'd be most comfortable here."

Meghan's jaw dropped.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…"

"Do you want to go there?"

"How come I don't know about it?"

"You only just moved here."

"And you know better than me?"

"Naturally Zelda told us about it, but we decided not to."

Meghan nodded. "OK. I'll cooperate." She had no idea why she just did that, but some how it seemed fun.

"Come this way." Nabooru didn't walk to the door. She walked towards the bathroom.

"It's in here?"

"Where else?" Nabooru stepped inside the bathroom, then over to the side. It was a big room, and Meghan had to admit she didn't look through the whole thing. There was a corner, where she had backed into earlier, then a turn.

And sure enough, a door was there. Inside, there were things you might find in an outdated beauty salon. A large mirror, a tall chair, and a vanity. She sat in the chair.

"Great." She closed her eyes…

Someone started combing her hair. Another took one of her hands and did something to her nails. Another she felt breathing in her face, putting makeup on her. Somebody took her other hand.

It felt better than she ever expected. She never really put makeup on, nor did anybody really do her hair. Not like this, at least. She sighed with contentment…

She opened her eyes for a second when whoever was doing her makeup stepped away for a second. She saw Saria at her right hand and Malon at her left. Narma seemed to be doing her makeup. She put getting a new mixture of colors of makeup at the table. She couldn't tell, but she was sure Nabooru was doing her hair. She would have known if it was Ruto's hands, and Dia was obviously too little. Dia stared at her with big, wide little child eyes. She smiled at her. Dia smiled back.

She observed Dia's dirty blonde, slightly curly hair down to her shoulders. It wasn't over-thick, curly. She had hazel eyes and cute, small, pointy ears. Meghan wondered why she was here. Maybe she was to child of one of Zelda's ladies-in-waiting? She was a very pretty little girl .

Just then, Nabooru flopped a large piece of hair into her face. Narma whined, complaining that her makeup was ruined. Nabooru ignored her, obviously used to it, and continued to do her hair. She wondered what she was doing to it.

She looked to the side at her hand. Saria was shaping her fingernails. Malon was done with that part and started putting on polish.

"I didn't know that you have nail polish," she said, thinking it was a more modern thing.

"Nail polish? What's that?" Malon asked.

"Um…never mind. It's basically the same." But what Malon was putting on was not in a bottle. It was in a circular, pot-like thing. The brush was thin, but long. She looked away, and then felt the cold sensation of nail polish being applied.

Nabooru pulled the big piece of hair from her face, but then Narma told her to close her eyes, so she did. Soon she felt the other hand getting nail polish, then the two left her hands and told her not to move them for a while. She let them drape over the arms of the chairs.

Before she knew it, they said they were all done. She opened her eyes as they stepped back and admired their work. Meghan didn't really like them looking at her.

"Come on, now! It's time to put-I mean, try that pretty gown of yours on!"

Meghan groaned.

"It's not that bad!"

"Yeah! It's really pretty!" Saria said.

"I think you'll look beautiful in it," Dia said in a shy, tiny voice. Meghan leaned down and picked her up.

"Thank you, Dia. You're so courageous. Now I have the strength I need to do what I don't want to. Come on, then." They walked back to her bedroom, the gown waiting expectantly on the bed. Meghan flinched at the sight of it, but walked bravely toward it.

"Do your worst," she muttered, closing her eyes and waiting for the horde to overtake her, though she did not struggle.

HALF-WAY THROUGH GETTING CHANGED…

"We need to take these off." Nabooru put her hands on the back of Meghan's neck, where her chokers' clasps were.

"Don't even think about it!" Meghan said, turning so quickly, she knocked Nabooru's hand off.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

"There!" Nabooru said, once again taking a step back to admire her. Meghan looked at Saria. She smiled and winked. Malon smiled and cocked her head to one side cutely. Narma nodded her head in approval. Ruto gave a bored smile. Dia looked up, wide-eyed, and had a little smile on her face.

"Perfect. Now, Zelda wanted us to try things on too, so we'll take a quick stop in our rooms and dress quickly. Don't touch anything as we walk through the hall. Don't touch yourself, namely." Meghan nearly laughed at the remark. _Sure, I won't touch myself._

"Hurry! We can't let anybody see you in the halls! We promised Zelda she would be the first to see you!" Malon said. Saria and Malon gingerly grabbed her hands and led her out to the hall, checking to be sure that no one was coming.

"But I haven't even seen myself! You didn't even let me look to see if I like anything!"

They raced down the hallway, ignoring her, but making sure Meghan didn't trip on her gown, and then forced her into another room.

It wasn't as big as hers, but basically had the same layout. The group, except Meghan, rushed into the rooms in the room. There were many different doors. Saria and Dia went into the same one, though, as Nabooru and Narma did.

In a few minutes, they came out one by one. Narma and Nabooru first. They were dressed in similar outfits. Both had cream-colored, puffy pants and creamy slipper-like shoes. Nabooru had a red-orange halter top, intricately designed, and very low-cut. A large red jewel adorned her neck and came down to about her collarbone, along with multiple rings on her fingers. Narma wore a purple halter-top, though the pattern was a bit different and not so low-cut. She had a smaller purple jewel around her neck.

Next came Malon. She was blushing slightly, making her even more pretty.

"I'm not used to wearing such beautiful gowns," she said practically to herself as she hesitantly stepped out of the room. Meghan smiled at her. The gown brought out her beauty even more than the housedresses she wore around the horses. It was a light red, and had white lace accenting it in different spots, like on the sleeves, which came halfway down her arms, and in the front of the dress. It had a round cut-off on the top near her neck. She had a single ring on her finger.

Ruto came out next. It was hard to imagine a Zora in a dress, but there she was. It was short, light blue, and tight around her body. All in all, she looked quite nice in it. (Just think of that Zora from MM. I think her name is lulu. It's like that dress she wears, but a lighter blue.)

Shortly after Ruto came Saria and Dia. Dia had a little pink dress on, with short, puffy sleeves. Lace lined the bottom of it, and Meghan could see little pink shoes underneath.

Saria had a beautiful green gown on. The front had two lines of lace running down, opening on the bottom to form a whole layer of lace before a satiny layer underneath. The color of the green perfectly matched her hair. She held onto Dia's little hand (though not much smaller than her own) and Meghan observed a green ring. (oo oo, tell you about this later.)

As though her whole observation of their clothes had been in slow motion, they all rushed to each other and started talking. Nabooru brought out makeup and other things, and they all picked partners and started putting makeup on. Except Ruto, Who obviously couldn't style her hair or put makeup on.

Meghan was left out, as none of them would let her get near to the makeup in fear of staining the gown. Meghan inwardly laughed at this.

The dress, except for some parts, was mostly black. But they still wouldn't let her. And they wouldn't even let her look at herself. When Meghan tried to sneak to look in a mirror Ruto held, she snatched it from view and changed her position on the couch she was sitting on.

Meghan sighed and stood in the corner of the room. She was used to being shy in public, so even with the people she knew, she couldn't find herself and interrupt anything they were doing.

She had long forgotten the feeling of being left out. Link always made sure she had a place, as did many people in Hyrule. But she was still herself, no matter what transformations her body had undergone.

She sighed again and scratched the tip of her ear. It would take some time to get used to all these new features.

Finally, when she was just getting very bored, they stood up and joined her.

"One question before we…do whatever we're going to do. Why are we ALL dressing up?"

"Like I said, Zelda wanted to see us all. There's something…in a few days…" She stopped talking.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Whatever." Meghan hung her head and followed them out the door. Dia came to her side and pulled at her hand. Meghan looked down and smiled. Dia reached her arms up so Meghan would pick her up. She did.

"So Dia, can YOU tell me where we're going?" She hoped that she would be able to get it out of her. Dia nodded. "Where?"

"It's a secret."

"Can I know the secret? I'm very good at keeping them."

"No. Princess Zelda said no."

"I see." Meghan bit her lip. This was going to stink. She was stuck with a whole bunch of people, in a long gown. She couldn't even see her feet. She was saved by the fact that it was in fact black, but it still really stunk and she still had no idea what was going on.

Considering it was her birthday, a normal person would have been able to guess, but Meghan was the type to not get things. Or at least not want to embarrass herself by asking if that was the case, in case she was wrong.

They came before a room with huge door. The doors reached all the way to the ceiling, which was about twelve feet tall. Two guards stood before the door. Meghan could have sworn she heard voices inside, and even, if she listened closely, music.

"We're here to see Princess Zelda," Nabooru said.

"Of course, she's been expecting you," the guard on the right said with a smirk. "Let me just…warn her of your arrival." Nabooru nodded and waited patiently as the guard slipped in the door. Meghan tried to see in, to see what room it was, but it was closed before she could move over. He had opened it very easily, so he was either very strong or the door was very light.

"Why can't we go in?" Meghan was angry that Nabooru didn't even protest to not being able to go in. Then again, why would she?

"Zelda may be in the middle of something important. We can't bother her if she is."

"But there are people talking and stuff in there. Why? And what is this room?" She put her hand, covered in a silky black glove, on the door. Nabooru jumped forward, afraid she was going to open it, but she didn't. Instead, she put Dia down and turned away. She walked a few steps. "I guess if you're not going to tell me, I'll just run back to my room. There I'll find a sword and I'll cut this gown to pieces. Then I'll run away. How about that?"

"Fine! He's coming back anyway. You'll see."

"Fine!" But they all pulled her arms to the side, so she could not see what was inside. The doors were opened to the inside, and she heard a voice:

"Announcing Meghan Black, the Female Savior of Hyrule."

At that point, Meghan broke free of their grasps, muttering, "_Damn you, Zelda…_"

"_Meghan! Wait! You have to go in properly_!"

MEANWHILE…

"Announcing Meghan Black, the Sage of Time." Link's ears perked up at the sound of her name. He excused his way through the crowd, trying to get to the doors to see her come in. People let him pass, and soon he was at the beginning of the crowd. There was a marble staircase before the door. The doors were opened, but no one came out. Everyone was silent.

Then, through the deafening silence, he heard footsteps. Rushing footsteps, as though someone was running. He wasn't sure if anyone else heard, but after a few seconds of waiting, the people started whispering.

"Where is she?"

"I heard that she might not come."

Link sighed. _Of course she's coming, this is HER ball._ _I knew it. I tried to tell Zelda…Meghan, don't this. Just once._ He put his head in his hand. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw something. She was there, outside the door! But she wasn't coming in. She was being so stealthy that no one else seemed to notice she was even there, but he did. Lifting his head slightly, he smiled, though to all others, it seemed like he was still frustrated. She smiled too, even though he didn't see.

Suddenly she appeared in the doorway. They all looked up and became silent again. She walked forward hesitantly, then as if on cue, everyone shouted,

"Happy birthday!"

She covered her mouth, as if surprised. But really, she was smiling underneath. No one saw it, though.

She began to descend the staircase, as Link savored every detail of her. First he noticed the dress. It was black, but opened up on the bottom to reveal a silvery layer underneath. It completely covered her feet. He looked up the dress and realized it was strapless. He never knew Meghan would wear such a thing. _She must have given them a hard time, I bet. _He was very happy when he noticed the necklace he had given her on her neck. Her chokers accompanied it.

(I'm sorry, I just had to keep the color scheme going! Oh, and I'm modeling this dress off a dress that my friend wore for her Bat Mitzvah. It was beautiful. Meggie would look good in it… . )

On her arms were elbow-length black gloves. As she came closer, he noticed her hair, tucked into a neat style on the top of her head. Not a hair was out of place. Black kohl lined her eyes, as ruby-red color brightened her lips. Her cheeks were slightly red, her complexion perfect.

As she reached the last step, she ran forward to him and hug basically hugtackled him. (Even though he didn't fall over.)

"_You knew about this_?" she whispered to him.

"Yeah," he said back.

"Thanks."

"Oh, don't thank me, thank Zelda. She came up with the whole idea."

"Thank you anyway. OK, where is she?" She still didn't let go of him.

"Over there." He pointed to the end of the room (which was, she had realized, a ball room) and there was Zelda, on a dais.

"I need to see her!" She was unaware of everyone watching her. And at that point, she didn't care.

Although she didn't like to admit it, she loved this. It was hard to believe ALL these people were here for her, but…they were.

They willingly let her through, making a path. Meghan went straight to Zelda.

Zelda smiled down at her, and beckoned with her head for Meghan to join her. She went up the two steps to Zelda, meeting her face to face.

"I w-"

"Sshh…it's deserved."

"But really…Sage of Time? Who thought that one up?"

Zelda pointed at Link. He pretended not to notice and whistled, slowly walking the other way.

Meghan ran behind him and grabbed his arm. He turned around. "You're evil."

He flashed his pearly white teeth. "I know I am," he responded. She smiled.

"Why am I called a sage if I have not one sage power?"

"You act like one. And you'd deserve to be one."

"Not really."

"Yes really."

"I don't think so," she said in a mock voice.

"Hey, don't yell at me. Zelda made me think of a title, and I'm not that creative."

Meghan smiled and turned back to Zelda. "Zellie! You're evil too!"

"No, I'm not." Zelda said with a straight face. "I'm malicious." She smiled. "Now enough talk. Let's start having fun!"

"We're going to teach you some Hylian traditions now that you're one of us," Link explained, "and one of those traditions is for a birthday. So naturally…"

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

"I'm scared." Zelda turned her around to face the crowd of people before her. "What are you doing?"

To her surprise, a band started playing. Good music. It was like a medieval rock band. She found the source of the band and checked out their instruments. Two (acoustic) guitars, a piano, a stand-up bass, and percussion. (Not exactly a drum set.) All they would have needed to turn to rock were amps and electric…

She was happy to see that two of the band members were Zoras. Mayo, playing one of the guitars, and a (girl) on the drums. It was a stretch, but Meghan was willing to bet that it was Kazana. (A/N—Remember I said that Kazana was based off my friend? Well that friend plays drums so I decided to do that… . P)

"Now it's time to dance and have fun! The first stage in a Hylian birthday party! Note that the dancing is usually fast-paced. Only we changed the music for you. I hope you like it. I remember you telling me something about bands with guitars and drums and stuff."

"OK, I like it a…lot…so far…"

"Good!" The brought her down and to the dance floor, an area across from where she had entered and diagonal from the dais. It was large and cleared. Nobody was there. They walked through the crowd, Zelda holding Meghan's left hand and Link holding her right, guiding her as though she was blind.

"What's the name of this song?"

"Ode to Meghan," Link said, smiling.

"Seriously."

"I'm serious!"

"Link, no you're not," Zelda interrupted. "Tell her the real name."

"Fine. Soundless Lullaby. Happy?" He smiled. (BTW this is a song I wrote the other day, so…I had to use it. MINE. NO TAKIES.)

After the introduction to the song, words came. The singer was (female) and had a silvery, smooth voice.

Who is that memory,

You see in the silent sea?

One last kiss for me,

And soundless lullabies.

"Um…remind me how to dance to this kind of music?"

"Like this!" Saria came running by and dancing crazily.

"Um…yeah…" Meghan scratched her head.

"Don't do that!" Nabooru's voice said, promptly followed by a slap to her hand. Meghan stopped.

"Ow!"

Where is the fallen moon?

Green grass is growing soon.

All alone it brings its doom,

Sing soundless lullabies.

"Nabooru!" Zelda said.

"Hey, Nabooru, if you keep doing that I'm going to scratch her head for her!" Link said, joking.

"No! I worked so hard on that!" Nabooru ran behind the crowd so Meghan couldn't see her anymore. Malon was walking toward them with Dia, and watched as she ran past.

"What happened to her?" Malon asked, letting go of Dia's hand as she ran to greet Meghan.

Pray with your head in clouds

A lost and desperate sound

Hoping your voice will resound

In a soundless lullaby.

"She's mad because Link threatened to mess up my hair." Meghan took Dia's hand as she reached for hers. "Come on, Dia, let's dance!"

Meghan watched in delight as Dia started to dance her little dance.

Live on, open your mind!

Let it reel and let it wind!

Feel for your despondent finds,

Your only lullaby.

"Great job, Dia!" Meghan said as Dia took a break and smiled widely. "That was beautiful!"

"Thank you," she said softly. Meghan smiled. _Aaw, she's SO cute! _

Pray with your head in clouds

A lost and desperate sound

Hoping your voice will resound

In a soundless lullaby.

"So Meghan," Link started, pulling her arm and twirling her to face him, "Do you like the music?"

"I love it! It reminds me of Evanescence! Then again, all sad music does."

"Great, because there's more on the way."

Live on, open your mind!

Let it reel and let it wind!

Feel for your despondent finds,

Your only lullaby.

Meghan tried to look over the crowd to see who was singing. It didn't sound like the Gerudo singer at all, and she hadn't met any other singers here, so she was quite curious.

"Link, who's singing?"

"A young (girl) Zelda found. I can't remember her name."

Meghan looked to Zelda to ask her, but Zelda was chatting with a few ladies Meghan didn't know, and a few she had seen before. She didn't want to interrupt.

Who is that memory,

You see in the silent sea?

One last kiss for me,

And soundless lullabies.

The song ended, leaving the words "soundless lullabies" echoing in her head. She wandered away from the crowd, determined to find the singer. Nobody happened to be looking at that exact second, so she was soon lost in the crowd.

She hoped that the music would start again so she could easily find her way, but just her luck, it didn't.

_What's taking so long?_ She thought to herself. Suddenly, she felt scared, lost in a sea of people she didn't know, there for HER but…did they even notice?

Once again we come to the fact that Meghan isn't really good in public.

She heard a voice behind her say,

"Look! There she is!" Meghan looked up. People had turned to look at her. They all stared. Meghan didn't feel comfortable around this bunch of people. Some looked in awe, some looked slightly scared.

"Um, excuse me…" she said quietly, attempting to escape, but she couldn't find anywhere to move out the circle she was being surrounded in.

"It's her!" a wheezy voice said.

"Oh dear deities!" She heard whispering. Little bits stood out, louder than other words.

"…So…beautiful…I wonder…he was there…black on…he took it…Princess Zelda…"

"Um, excuse me…" she walked forward, but no one moved. "Please, can I get through?"

The music had started in the background, but she barely noticed it. She was afraid. Why didn't they let her go? She turned around; maybe there was a way out there. She didn't see anything.

"Hey, Meghan, come with me." A strong hand grasped her arms and she was ready to scream. It pulled her away from the group of strange people as she came to realize who it was. She sighed with relief.

"Thank you Luke."

He didn't let go, but led her to a corner, where people passed by and the stayed inconspicuous.

"What is it?" His expression was serious.

"All right, yeah, this is going to sound a bit generic, but Meghan, I need you to always be with someone around here. This place is huge, and the number of people is even larger. It's dangerous, seriously. We didn't restrict anyone from coming. I don't believe those people would hurt anyone, just…play it safe, all right?"

"Yeah…but-"

"And don't think you're the only one who I want to keep an eye on. Everyone…I mean, Zelda, the sages, and others, these rules apply to.

"Hey, at least I'm not alone," she sarcastically replied.

"Let's get back. When they noticed you were gone, I was just going to find you anyway, so yeah. Let's go."

On their way back to find the others, they came across Link.

"Link!'

He turned and seemed to sigh with relief. "Oh good! We thought we lost you."

"Mischievous one you have here, Link."

"I know. I guess I should…watch her more carefully…" He stared at her.

"Stop it!" she giggled.

"I have to go, Link. I trust you can take her from here?"

Link looked up. "Yeah, thanks. " Luke walked away. "Meg! You should have told us you were leaving. I had no idea where you were."

"I guess you panicked, didn't you?"

"Not…really…" He smiled and stepped closer to her, poking her on the nose with an un-gauntleted finger. He had _that_ look in his eyes, but it seemed somewhat diluted comparing to usual.

She looked to the side, anything to get away from that feeling. The area she was in wasn't so crowded, but still people walked by every once in a while, and they were in clear site.

"Let's go back to the others." She looked back to him. The look was gone.

He nodded and they walked back. She started to notice the music again. Playing right now was a beautiful guitar solo in a minor key, with a bit of percussion in the background. She was sure it was Mayo.

"Darn, he's good!"

"Who is it?"

"Mayo! Remember? Oh…you saw him, but you didn't see him playing guitar! I think that's him! And Kazana is playing drums. Yay!"

"Oh! OK." They rejoined the group they were in before. Although she hated to admit it, the group she was in was a group consisting mostly of the people important to saving Hyrule. (_Excluding myself_,she thought.) All the sages, who helped lock away Ganon and gave Link more power, Zelda who obviously helped Link and sealed Ganon, Link, whose importance is so obscenely obvious I shouldn't even be writing a description for him, Malon, whose ranch supplied him with milk, a cow, a horse, and heart pieces.

She saw Darunia for the first time that day.

"Meghan!" he shouted, opening his arms. "Happy birthday!"

"Um, thanks…" She backed away. He put his arms down. "Care to dance?"

"I'd love to!" he said, dancing. And dancing. And dancing.

"At least he won't hug me."

With that optimistic note, they joined the rest of their group, dancing, laughing, talking and having fun.

Meghan was so worn out, about an hour later, that she decided she needed a break and a drink. Everyone had been pressuring her to join their activities, which meant a lot of exercise and action. She stopped dancing suddenly, causing Link to stop. She looked at him, and he looked at her. For the first time that night, she took in what he wore. The usual white pants, shirt, boots, tunic, and sword (minus the shield) he had adorned, but the color of the tunic was a silvery color (much like the one on SSBM) and black boots. (Darn! Everything still matches! Lol.)

They stared at each other, Meghan breathing hard, a bead of sweat rolling down her face. People danced and lived around them, but they didn't notice anything but each other. They took in all of each other's details, relishing every inch of each other's bodies, loving it.

"Hey guys! The rest of us are in Hyrule. Where are you?" said Saria's voice questioned, bringing them out of their reveries.

"Um…I really need a break from dancing." She looked at Saria, who was smirking, eyes sparkling. Meghan smiled back and walked to Zelda. "Where can I get something to drink around here?" she asked Zelda.

"There are waiters walking around, as well as some positioned near the back doorway, and near the tables."

"Thanks, Zelda." She walked up to Link. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course." They told Saria and Zelda they were leaving, then set out.

The tables were on the other side of the room, set up for the dinner later on. The doors to the back exit were closer, so they decided to go there. It would be too hard to find one in the crowd, unless they came across one.

Near the door, there was a waiter standing in a waiter outfit. In his hand, or rather balancing on it, was a tray. When they walked up to him, Meghan asked,

"What do you have to drink?" all cute and smiley.

"Red wine, white wine, pink wine…"

"Do you have anything that's…like…water? Juice? Something good for you."

"Of course. Water, and any juice you can imagine, including our freshly made every day kamamelon juice, Lon Lon Ranch milk."

"Oo…what about kamamelon juice?"

"Of course."

"No! Meghan…I mean…maybe later…you'll be crazy. Please no."

The waiter raised his eyebrow. "Ah. He has knowledge of its effects."

"It's not dangerous…is it?"

"No, it just makes you crazy," Link answered. "But they are extremely good tasting."

"OK…then…just water, please."

"Of course. Right away." He walked away, to a door she assumed led to the kitchen. A few seconds later, he returned with a glass of water on his tray. It was frosted with cold. She downed the whole glass in a matter of seconds, to the astonishment of the waiter and Link, and breathed deeply.

"Thank you, where do I put this?"

"I shall take it for you."

"Thank you!"

The waiter walked back to the kitchen.

"Are you tired already? Because we're still only in the first phase of the party…" Link worried.

"No, just need a break."

"OK."

"It's sorta hot in here."

"I guess, yeah," he agreed. "Of course, if I was wearing that outfit, I'd be hot too."

"Exactly. Can we get some air? Like go in the hall. I'm sure it's better there."

"Yeah." She took his hand and went out the door with him, immediately feeling the cold relief. It cleared her mind, and brought her to think about a few things. At that moment, she was glad he couldn't see into her thoughts, because she wanted to be able to say this without falter and distraction. Then she thought of something…

"Hey Link…about before…" She stopped, her voice starting to quiver.

"What before? When?"

"Before…when we were in the field…and you…"

"I what? Did I do something?" He turned to her, worry clear on his face. She leaned against the wall, thinking what to say. She was too embarrassed to say it.

"You were going…to…um…sorta…like…you know…I mean…well…"

"OK, what is it? It's OK. Tell me."

"Um…you know…that thing…you did…but got stopped…because I was chicken and stupid and-"

"Oh! Hey, you mean this?" And at that second, once again his lips united with hers. Something felt different about this kiss. The first one was full of emotion, and sadness. The second was an innocent"happy birthday" kiss. But this one…this one WAS different. Deep, inside, (the word everyone uses:) passionate. She felt herself liking it, feeling it too as his sweet taste touched her tongue. He, too, tasted it. (Only he tasted her, obviously.)

She was nearly gasping for air when they broke apart. Between breaths, she managed to mutter, "Yeah…that thing…"

"What about it?" he asked, smiling as she searched his eyes for answers to his question. She couldn't answer it by herself. She soon forgot she was supposed to be answering a question, and started to stammer,

"Uh…um…uh…wh…eh…er…"

"Oh, I get it now," he said, putting his hand on the wall next to her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her face. "You…"

"Um…I…what?"

"You like it!"

"What? Um, I mean-"

He cut her off again. She squished up against the wall as far as possible, unconsciously moving her body away from his, even though he still came closer. She finally accepted it, her arms halfway up, staying in midair. Eventually, they found their way to around his neck. She felt his hands on her lower back area, more commonly referred to in these types of scenes as the "hips."

MEANWHILE…

Malon was talking to Saria. They had decided to take a break from the activities, and sat at a table. Both were exhausted.

"I wonder where Meghan and Link went. I saw them go out the door when we were coming here, but I haven't seen them come back."

From where they sat, the doors were in plain view, unless someone walked in front of them, which only happened every once in a while.

"They probably went outside. Meghan was getting worked to death. You know how Link would feel about that."

"What? How would Link feel?"

"Malon! Didn't you realize?"

"Realize what?"

"Well, I guess you didn't see them together as much as I have. There's something between them."

"They're best friends, I know that."

Saria didn't feel like explaining too much more. "I dare you to go find them."

"Why?"

"Just look at them, if they're together."

"Again, why?"

"You'll see!"

"Fine!"

"But you really have to look very close. They don't let people catch on too much when they know they're there."

"What in Hyrule are you talking about?"

"I dare you to go look! Go!"

"Fine!" Malon giggled and walked away, to the door.

"She'll see, blind ranch woman," Saria joked to herself.

Malon had walked out the door, then turned to the left, determined to find out what the "hay" Saria was talking about. It didn't take her long to find out.

She turned bright red, stiffly turning and going back into the ballroom. She walked back to Saria, thoughts racing through her mind. She only hoped they hadn't seen her, for their sake and hers…

"That quickly? I don't believe you saw them."

"Oh, believe me, I did…" Malon said in a small voice. Saria's face turned into a smile.

"They weren't…"

"Oh yes they were."

Saria's mouth opened wide, and then formed an "oo" mouth. "Ooo! Oo oo oo! Now it can't be denied! We have irrefutable evidence! Come on, Malon, let's go bust them!" Saria stood up and pulled Malon's arm.

"No, Saria! We can't."

"Why not?"

"They just seemed so happy. Can you imagine being in their position, then having people come and do that on them? I can't."

"Was it really…?"

"Look, Saria, I only glanced before I turned away. I don't know anything but that's what they were doing."

"Oh, fine. Can we at least spy?"

"No! Saria, you're not getting the point!"

"What's the point?"

"The point is that they need to be left alone. "

"Well, at least you know now. " Saria nodded, then sat back down. "How romantic!"

"Stop talking about it, Saria!"

"Fine!"

MEANWHILE…

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally broke away. Meghan hadn't been conscious, she thought, through it, but as soon as he broke contact, she breathed.

"People are going to wonder where we went…" Link said suddenly.

"Oh, yeah…"

"We should go." He tugged at her hand, but she held back. She turned a bright red.

"I…I-I-I can't just yet."

"Why not?"

"…Um…" She wondered if he even knew what he just did. Or they did…or something…. She turned a darker red. "Um…remember…two seconds ago…"

"Oh, stop blushing." He put his hand on her cheek and traced it with his thumb. "You shouldn't be."

"I know but I don't mean to…"

"Forget it. It's completely normal."

"Huh?" She found it strange that he was comforting her on teenage strange rituals…yet found it comforting. "Oh, yeah…I guess." She felt strange talking about it. She wanted to say that people do things much worse back home, but she just turned darker.

"What are you thinking about?" he laughed, "You keep turning darker and darker. I'm afraid you'll explode."

"No…no, I'm fine." She sighed and stared down for a few seconds, the color eventually fading.

"Better. Come on." She tottered after him, admiring his courage to step into a group of people after something like that.

Oh thank the goddesses that they did not know Malon had paid them a surprise visit.

They rejoined their group. Malon and Saria were still not there.

"Where were you? That was an awful long time to get a drink," Nabooru asked suspiciously.

Meghan turned around, pretending not to hear her. Link answered.

"It was getting hot in here, so we took a walk in the courtyard."

"Oh. That's nice…" It was obvious she was pointing the question at Meghan.

"Meghan, Link, I just have to tell you, after this song is over, it's time for the supper."

"Supper?"

"Yeah…the second stage. Um…yeah…"

"Yeah? What is there to eat?"

"Assorted things…I think you'll like…"

"OK…"

"Yes, but you won't be happy with what happens after that."

"What is it?" she asked loudly.

"…Eh…um…"

"YES?"

"You'll see."

"Come this way." Zelda took Meghan's arm, and Link followed close behind. They went to the dais. They waited until the song was over, then everyone quieted a bit.

"Thank you, everyone, for joining us tonight. Please take your seats at your tables, and sit at your reserved seats. Thank you."

The was a bit of commotion as everyone made their way through the crowd to the dining area, but once most people were seated, it calmed down a bit.

"Where do I sit?"

"Over there." Zelda pointed to a table that was longer than all the other rectangular, smaller tables. There were so many tables, Meghan found it hard to believe there was enough food in the castle to feed that many people.

"OK…who else sits with us?"

"The Sages, Luke, Link, me, you…let's see…Malon and Talon…and Darunia's son, Nabooru's friend, and I believe that's all."

"What about…Dia, and Kazana and Mayo, and…"

"Meghan, we can't fit everyone at the table! Don't worry, they're all sitting close."

"Ok…" They walked to their table, making Meghan sit in the direct center. On her left were Zelda, and her right, Link. To Link's right were Saria, Malon, Talon, Rauru, (can you imagine that? Talon and Rauru!) Nabooru, and Narma. To Zelda's left were Luke, Darunia, Link, Ruto, and Impa.

Meghan spotted a lot of her Hylian friends along the tables near by. Dia sat with whom she thought was her mom, and Devan. Kazana and Mayo sat at another table with a few Gorons, Lima, and whom she thought was their father, the Merchant person from Zora's domain. They were talking rapidly, or so it seemed.

She realized she had phased out for a second, and then suddenly realized something as many waiters came out of the kitchen doors with trays of hot something, that this was for HER. She nearly gasped. Sometimes she just didn't absorb things quickly.

"These people…for me? But that seems all entirely selfish!" She practically melted into the seat, wishing she could crawl under the covered table.

"You're just saying that because you don't want people to know you exist."

"_Well, yeah, but no! Can I leave now? No one actually asked me if I wanted to come_," she whispered to Link, for fear of upsetting Zelda, who had, after all, started the party.

"But for a while, you seemed so happy!"

"But I don't like big crowds.

"OK."

A waiter came by and served their table. They set a bowl of hot, light soup in front of each o them, and filled their glasses with water. She stared down at it.

"What's this?"

"I don't know," Link replied. Meghan shrugged and picked up her spoon, stuffing the napkin on her lap and dunking the spoon into the liquid. "Careful, it's hot."

"Thank you, Mother."

He reached sideways and poked her on her head. Thank god Nabooru wasn't watching. Meghan turned her head slowly, while his finger still touched her.

"Thank you, Mother."

He grinned and tried not to laugh. "You're welcome."

"Whatever." Meghan smiled and tried not to laugh as well. She snorted into her soup as she swallowed some. It was actually very good. Not that she expected it to be bad. "Yummy."

"I'm glad you like it," Zelda replied, taking a sip herself. "But just you wait until the following courses!"

Zelda was right. By the time they were finished eating, everyone was way too full to do anything just yet. Meghan mentioned that she eat way too much to Link, and his reply was,

"That's good. Just wait until what's next."

"No more food!"

"No! Of course not!"

"Good."

"Gifts from the communities."

"Shut up."

"No, I swear."

"Tell them I don't want anything!"

"Sorry, it's traditional, and I couldn't stop them even if I tried."

Meghan sighed angrily. "Fine."

"Well, now that that's over, Meghan, we'll just go over here…" Zelda, Luke, and Link all stood up. Link pulled Meghan's chair away from the table so she could stand, but she sat and crossed her arms. He rolled his eyes.

"Please get up." Meghan stuck her tongue out at him and stood. "Great!"

"Follow me, please," Zelda said, walking back to the dais. Meghan hung her head. "Don't be sad. This is happy!"

"OK, OK!" Meghan smiled a huge, completely fake smile.

They brought her to the middle of the stage, and a few people (or creatures) stood before them.

Darunia and Goron Link walked up to them, Darunia carrying a package. Darunia stopped halfway to Meghan, and handed the package to Link, who brought it the rest of the way to Meghan.

"This is a gift from the entire Goron community!"

Link came forward with a medium sized package, handing it to Meghan. It was so heavy she nearly fell. Link (Hylian) quickly helped her, putting his hands under it and supported it.

"Thank you…" Meghan had a feeling she knew what it was. "So much…"

"Open it," Link whispered. Meghan let him hold it as she carefully opened the package. Her suspicions were confirmed.

"Uh…thank you so much! It's…beautiful!"

"And also delicious! It's a prime-cut sirloin rock!"

"Mm…yummy." Meghan stared at the rock. "Looks great, but I've eaten so much, I can't bear to look at it…I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I know how you feel." Darunia and Link turned around and went the other way, standing not too far away. Ruto and Kazana were coming next. Ruto stopped where Darunia had, giving her package to Kazana, who brought it forward to Meghan. Meghan was glad it wasn't so heavy. In fact, it was extremely light.

"A gift from the Zora Tribe." Ruto said. She gently unwrapped it. Inside was something blue. "A lady sized Zora Tunic, so you can breathe underwater like Link." Meghan smiled.

"Thank you. A lot. It's so nice! Thanks."

Kazana smiled and turned around. Next Meghan saw Saria, by herself. Of course, there were no other Kokiri who could come out of the forest.

"A gift from the Kokiri." Saria said, handing a large package to Meghan. It wasn't that heavy, though. Link held it as she opened it. She pulled out a beautiful plant, with the reddest flower in full bloom in the direct center. "It will never die. It will always bloom in the same place. It closes at night, though, but the same flower will live as long as you allow it."

"Wow…" Tears were in Meghan's eyes because it was so beautiful. The petals were perfectly placed, and the leaves full and lusciously green. "Thank you so much, Saria! I'll always take care of it!"

"I hope you do. The Kokiri wanted to tell you happy birthday too."

"Thank you."

Saria grinned at her for a second before turning. Nabooru came next with Narma. Narma brought forward a small package that was very light. Meghan had a feeling she could guess what it was too. And where it came from.

She opened it, and took out a beautiful, and rather large stone. It was black and perfectly cut. She looked at it skeptically.

"I know what you're thinking, Meghan. But it's not the case. That stone came directly from the Lady of Spirit statue in the Spirit Temple. We didn't steal it." Meghan assumed the Lady of Spirit statue was the huge one in the Spirit Temple just before where they fought Koume and Kotake.

"Thank you…"

Impa came next, by herself. "From the Sheikah. Me, in other words."

Meghan smiled. "Thank you." She gingerly took the package, a light square-ish gift.

She unwrapped it, and uncovered a book. The title was in Hylian, but a translation was below.

"_In the Shadows…_"Meghan whispered. "Thank you Impa. It looks great!"

"It's a novel about the Sheikah, told by my great-grandmother. Perhaps it will help you in the future."

"I'm sure I'll love it! And nice and long, too. I look forward to reading it. Thank you."

Impa smiled and went to stand next to the others. Meghan was relieved that was it, but then was disappointed. She saw Dia and Devan.

"Meghan, it's for you." Dia held out a package, slightly messily wrapped, but sweet all the while.

"Thank you, Dia!" Meghan said, kneeling down to her level. Dia smiled as she unwrapped it gently. Inside was a green ball; identical to the one they were playing with yesterday.

"I thought you might want to play with Link sometimes if you were bored."

"Thank you so much, Dia! It's beautiful! And you too, Devan! Come here." She squeezed both of them in a hug and then sent them off. She held the ball close, unsure of what to do next. She inched back next to Link, whispering, "_Um…what do I do now?"_

"_Just wait."_

"_For what?"_

"_Zelda. She'll let you know."_

"_OK."_

Then Zelda started to speak. "Thank you everyone. Now, if you will kindly move to other parts of the ballroom so the waiters can fix the tables, we would be most thankful."

A mass of people started moving to the other side of the room.

"All right, Meghan. Next part."

"What's that?"

"Dancing again," Link said.

"But we were dancing for like an hour before!"

"This is a different kind of dancing."

"Uh…"

"Remember I specifically said before that that stage in the party was typically fast-moving dances? Well this part is slow dancing."

"…Oh." She thought for a second. "OK."

"Cool. Let's go." Link held out his hand, and Meghan took it as they walked down to the dance floor area.

String instruments started to play nice dancey music. Meghan and Link smiled as Link asked the question while laughing,

"Do you want to dance?"

"Oh, please. Must I really answer?" She laughed.

"Sorry, standard procedure."

"Right."

"Just do what everyone else is doing."

"What are they doing?"

"This dance."

"How does it go?"

"You're asking me that? Have you forgotten who was stuck in a coma for seven years?"

"Ye-no." Meghan said.

"Good." Meghan glanced at the other people. She wasn't sure she wanted to do that specific dance.

"Ugh…bore…let's do something COMPLETELY different. Our OWN way."

"All right."

"Like…" She took his hands and positioned them on herself. "And…" She put her hands on him. "There."

"Interesting…"

"From my world."

"Great!" So they twirled around a few times, with Link's arms around her waist and her arms around his neck.

"That's that." The song ended. The next song started in a few seconds. It was much slower and more…slow dance-y.

"Hmm…nice song."

"Yeah…let's dance more."

"Cool." So they once again took their positions and Link slowly danced with Meghan. She sighed, closing her eyes and letting him lead her. What a great party.

"Sweet…sweet sixteen."

During the song, and because there were less people dancing (people who had partners) they had somehow gotten close to where the instruments were. Meghan lifted herself from her position leaning on Link's shoulder, her eyes drooping.

"Are you sleeping?" Link asked jokingly, watching as she blinked.

"No. But look at the instruments! They're so shiny…" She stared at the instruments strangely similar to violins, violas, cellos, and possible basses, but they were different. Oh, yeah, and the piano was still there, since they didn't move it from before. "They have a piano."

"Yeah."

"Awesome!" A final cadence sounded in the song, and they knew it was about to end.

"Do you want to play it?"

"I can't. There are people here."

"Well then you can show them how you play!"

"But I haven't played in more than a month. I'll mess up for sure. And I don't know what to play."

A violist (or whatever it was in Hyrule) must have heard their conversation, because he stood up and asked Meghan, "Young lady, would you care to grace us with a song?"

"Um…"

"Go ahead! No one minds."

"…Um, I guess…"

"Is that a yes?"

"Yeah."

"Please, help yourself."

Meghan hesitantly walked over to the piano, pulling out the bench and positioning herself. She put her fingers in position, remembering the feel. The piano was almost exactly the same; it just seemed to have a few less keys than the standard eighty-eight keys. She positioned her left hand on an octave f, the lowest two, and right hand on f, a flat and e flat.

"Um…" She took a deep breath, then slowly started to play a song she had composed called Cold Memories.

_Cold memories,_

_I can't feel anymore_

_Only the coldness _

_Of a thousand silent years._

_And everything I recall_

_Is nothing good_

_And nothing there_

_Nothing real._

Link stood in shock as he listened to her voice, but was more captivated by her playing. Even the simple piano part was beautiful.

_Cold memories surround,_

_I hear a cry sound,_

_And for once I can see_

_That this is me,_

_This is me,_

_This is me._

_This is you! _ Link thought, thinking how lucky he was.

Somewhere else, Zelda listened carefully. This was Meghan?

A piano instrumental started, showing off more playing. The string instrument players recognized a pattern even through the winding piano part. If was based on the note f, but the chords changed to d flat and e flat as well. So slowly, they incorporated their own thing into the song, enhancing it. Meghan beamed as the song took on more life.

_Cold memories surround_

_As I walk through this town_

_Taking my last breath,_

_Inhaling death._

The song ended on a low f, a perfect end to the song. Link swore he was about to cry. Meghan got up, and to her surprise, a lot of people clapped. Like, CLAPPED.

"Meghan, who knew you could play so lovely?" Zelda said as she greeted her.

"I messed up!" she whined, a disappointed expression on her face. They all looked at her strangely.

"We didn't hear any mistakes. It was perfect," Link comforted. Because they really hadn't.

"I did too mess up, and nothing is perfect."

"Relax, little whiner, all is fine. You have a split personality. One second you'll be so calm and the next hyper and nervous. What am I supposed to do with you?"

"Call me by another name, give me amnesia, and cast me to the Gerudos."

"Um…let's just stick with the giving another name part. How about 'Musical?' Or 'Melody?' Or 'Medley?'"

"Eh…"

"Or Megs, for split personality."

"More than one Meg! I like it! Done."

"Great! Megs…" (Pay attention to this…big note on the bottom about this name…Ah:o The secret is revealed! )

Another song started.

"OK…dance I guess…" So once again, they started another boring dance, for that's what was expected of them. Meghan and Link were just dancing along, until someone came and interrupted them.

"Ahem…excuse me, Link, may I cut in?" Meghan looked at who was tapping Link on the shoulder, recognizing him as Luke.

_Please no, don't let him, Link!_

"All right," Link replied, hesitantly letting go. "If she doesn't mind, I mean."

"No…not at all."

"I'll just go pick on Zelda now." Link sulked off to find the princess, who wasn't very far away. Both stared jealously at their partners, then turned to each other, smiling.

"Well, would you like to dance, Princess? And after that you can marry me. And then-"

"Link, it's not even time for the kamamelon juice, and you're already crazy!"

"I know. I'm like that."

Zelda rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, Meghan and Luke danced.

"Um…"

"Yes?"

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…so…how are you on this fine day?"

"Well, I'm doing great, thank you. I enjoyed your song quite a bit. Imaginative. So how are you?"

"Thank you. I'm fine…I suppose. This is just a bit tiring, though. I'll survive nonetheless. And thanks for liking my song."

He spun her around. "No, thank you for the wonderful treat!"

"Yeah…"

"You broke the pattern. You were supposed to say thank you. Like we did the last few sentences." He smiled his boyish grin, and she laughed.

They chitchatted for the rest of the dance, until their partners came running back to them. Link made a memorable appearance, nearly slipping on something, but staying standing and stuff.

"Good job," Meghan praised as he smiled.

"It's what I do."

LATER…

"Hey, Link! This Kamamelon juice stuff is pretty good!"

"I know, isn't it?"

"Yeah!"

"Hey, let's go have some more!"

"Yeah!"

"It's so delicious!"

"I just said that!"

"I'll race you!"

"I'm gonna win!"

"We'll see!"

"YOU are not racing anywhere." Nabooru had grabbed her by her choker, choking her. She stopped.

"Sorry Link, Nabooru says I can't race!"

"Nabooru! We wanna race!"

"Tough."

"Nabooru!" Link whined. "Please?"

"No!"

"Fine then!" They walked quickly to the nearest waiter, who had it on his tray because it was, in fact, kamamelon juice hour. Meghan drank some, then nearly dropped the glass, then ran around in circles.

"WEEEE!"

"MEGHAN!"

"Sorry, Nabooru!" Meghan slowed down then stopped. "So strict…"

"That's OK! We'll just…do something else!"

"YAY!" Meghan ran over and hugged Link, making him drop his glass, which crashed to the floor and shattered.

Somewhere else, Zelda slapped her head to her forehead and took a sip. "Mm…yummy…" She ran off to find someone to annoy.

LATER…

Meghan sighed. A lot of people had left, but many were still left. They had mostly moved from the ballroom to separate sitting rooms. Meghan and Link were with Saria, Dia and her family, Kazana and Malon. She had no idea where everyone else was. A quick glance around the room found her a clock, and it was nearly 12:30. She yawned and leaned against Link on the couch she was sitting on. Everyone was talking except for her, but she was just too tired. She couldn't wait until she could take the dress off and get into some comfortable clothes.

Actually, she was starting to like the dress. She liked its design and the way it flowed about her, but it was entirely annoying in its length and weight.

"Oh, yes. Of course. I always thought that…"

"But do you really…

"Blab blah blah…"

"Blah…"

Meghan didn't really pay attention to anything. She just drooped.

Saria sat on a chair by herself next to them, and Dia, her mom, and Devan were across from them. Kazana sat on a chair by herself, and Malon on another. There was one empty chair in the sitting room, but no one was there.

She noticed Dia, who was barely awake. Her eyes drooped and she laid her head in her mother's lap. Devan sat up straight, but she could tell that he too was struggling to stay awake.

She thought that it made sense—Dia was the youngest, then Devan, then herself, even though it was her birthday. Even Saria was probably older, just younger looking. So no wonder she was tired.

She barely realized that her eyes were closed, then the door open and they opened as well.

Zelda and Luke walked into the room. Zelda was smiling and came to sit next to Meghan. Luke sat in the empty chair.

"Hello," Zelda said. Meghan squeezed her eyes to stay awake, then muttered,

"Hey, Zelda."

"So how is everyone?" Luke asked joyfully.

"You two are definitely on some kamamelon juice."

"Oh, yes," Zelda replied.

"Great," Meghan said. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Meghan, you know it helps you stay awake! You should get some!"

"No, no…I'd rather be sleepy than artificially awake…"

"All right…"

"So what have you guys been doing?"

"Seeing a few people out. But we're back now. Does anyone mind our presence?"

"Not at all," Link said. Everyone agreed. (Everyone awake.) Meghan noticed the deep breathing of Dia and Devan as they leaned on their mother, meaning they were sleeping.

"They're so adorable," Meghan told her.

"Yes, but quite a handful," their mother agreed.

Meghan smiled. "I should follow their example and sleep."

"Meghan, do you want to go?" Link questioned.

"No, I'm fine."

"Hmm…just to make sure…you are all staying here in the castle tonight, right?"

"Except for me," Luke said jokingly.

"I wasn't talking to you, silly head," Zelda played.

"Well, excuuuuse me, princess." (XD sorry, it just fit. )

"Anyway…"

"Yes, I'm staying," said Saria. "It's too late and I'm tired."

"Me as well," Malon said. "Sepira's probably sleeping anyway, and I don't feel like walking."

"Yes…they're asleep…even though it wouldn't be much of a walk, they'd just love it if they could stay in a castle for a night…"

"You are always welcome here, Sheftali," said Zelda. (A/N- Sheftali, really spelled Şeftali, is Turkish for peach. )

"Thank you, Zelda." She stroked Dia's hair. Meghan wondered where their father was. She hadn't seen him anywhere today, but she knew she wasn't a single mother from yesterday when she had called her kids home.

With those thoughts, she closed her eyes and phased out. She could feel Link talking, even though she didn't pay attention to exactly what he said.

She was on the brink of sleep, when someone shook her. Her eyes shot open. Saria was standing and smiled at her.

"OK, party girl, time for bed! Come with us, THEN you can sleep."

"Sure…sure…" Link pushed her up, and she stood with her eyes drooping. She looked at the clock. It said 1:32. She walked to the door, noticing that only she, Malon, Link, Saria, and Kazana were left.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Luke went home, and Zelda showed Sheftali and her children to their room."

"K." They walked sleepily (well, Meghan did) to Meghan's room. She opened it and immediately went to sit on the couch. Malon sat there too, and then told her to bend her head back so she could take her hair out of its style. Link sat on a chair.

Meghan closed her eyes as Malon pulled out pins and such, and then braided her hair so it wouldn't get knotty as she slept.

"Thank you, Malon."

"Of course."

"Well, I guess we should get back to our rooms," Saria said. Malon nodded.

"Good night, Meghan. And even though technically it's not your birthday anymore, happy birthday."

"Yeah, happy birthday-night thing," Saria agreed. "We're leaving now."

"Good night," said the almighty Link.

"'Night."

They left the room. Meghan faced Link.

"I guess I should go, too."

"Go? Where are you going?"

"Well, I need to go home to sleep, too!"

"I know, but…all the way over there? Come on, you can stay in the castle."

"I never asked for a room to stay in," he said.

"This is my house, you can live here." She smiled. "For tonight, if you want."

"Are you sure?"

"Why would I not be sure?"

"I don't know."

"Just stay. Whatever. I'm going to get dressed. You take that horribly heavy thing off." She pointed to his sword. "And sleep, like everyone else."

"Alright…" He sat on the couch and took it off, and Meghan went to her room to change her clothes.

She found a pair of white shorts and a white shirt in her closet that matched. She still wondered how Zelda got her these clothes…

She opened her door, and…_wow_.

_He's HOT_. _And he's all mine!_

She had to admit that this day was a first. A nice, HOTT first. Man was he hot. Oh, yeah…

For those of you out there wondering what the heck I'm saying, I'll just tell you that Link had no shirt on. Can you IMAGINE?

He had totally awesome muscles, but not, like, bulging out of nowhere. Nice and toned…beautiful abs…and wow, I'm getting carried away.

"Um…" She was shocked, and needless to say, at a loss for words.

"Yeah?"

"Um…you sleeping there?" She pointed to the couch he sat on.

"Yeah, why? Isn't that what you meant?"

She opened her mouth, but just nodded. She turned and went back to her bed, pulling off blankets and blankets and pillows. Finally, she got down to the good stuff, and sat down.

She saw Link. He sat with his hands behind his head, leaning against the back of the couch with a smirk on his face.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," he replied snidely. "Just making sure you don't get into any trouble."

"So you're going to watch me the whole night?"

"Yeah."

"Won't it be hard to do from in there?"

"Maybe…"

"OK, well, goodnight." She pulled the blanket up and went under it, lying on her side. She could feel him staring at her, as if it went right through her. She closed her eyes right away, feeling tiredness sweep over her, despite anything.

She heard a sound, then a voice,

"Can I watch you better from here?" he asked, and she realized he was right next to her bed.

"Yeah, but it'd be pretty hard to stand the whole night."

"I can fix that." She felt him slide onto the bed. She giggled, and he put his face near her ear. "Better?"

"Oh, of course."

"Oh, OK then. The princess is happy. Goodnight, sleepy girl ."

"Good night."

In as much time as it took her to get changed, she was asleep, in a comfortable position. He heard her deep breaths, and snuggled closer to her. She automatically changed position (even in her sleep) and curled up so her back fit right up against his chest. He put his arm over her side, and then took a deep breath.

"_Good night, my love…_"

**OK, I said I would explain about the name. It's the nickname my mom calls me by, the only one I actually like. (Lame, I know) So I had been wanted to incorporate it into the story from now on, and it'll be Link's favorite name for her from here on. OH…and the huge secret…  
Mwahahaha…my real name is Meghan. **

**Uh…and…I went to my very first Pointe ballet class today! YAY! And…the name Sheftali actually does mean peach in Turkish…I know a lot of Turkish now. It think if I ever need names from now on, I'll just use a Turkish fruit or something… . **

**And about review answers…I got this idea from my (other) story to put them in a review…SOO…I'll do that. It'll probably take until tomorrow, since it's late and I'm tired from class. I'm in high school now, you know. It sucks because they messed up my schedule and I'm blabbing again… .  
So…I probably forgot to say something…but…If I did, it'll be in that review. **

**Love, from NayNay. (That IS my nickname too. My INTERNET nickname. Comes from NAYORIN.) Oh, and please note that I'm considering changing my name from AnimeDemonNayorin to just Nayorin. Tell me your opinions. and don't be alarmed if it does change. **


	66. Why, oh, why?

"_Good night, my love…_"

Link's eyes flew open suddenly. Even through his grogginess, he felt like something was wrong. He thought he heard something…but he was half awake then…was it real, or a dream?

Suddenly, he moved his arm and grabbed something from midair. He held a wrist, attached to a hand, which held a shining blade. He sat up and threw the person to the side as far as he could.

He stood up, surrounded by three other people, each with a weapon. One ran forward to him. He grabbed the arm in which the person held a short sword and twisted it behind his back. He yawned, and then kicked the attacker to the ground. Another person was right next to him and Link punched him in the stomach. He quickly turned around, hoping he hadn't wakened Meghan. She was still fast asleep.

"_Who are you_?" he whispered. A third person attacked him as the first started to get up. Link kicked him in the face, sending him to the floor. Link was sure he had knocked him out. The first person that attempted to attack them in their sleep slashed at him with his knife. Link dodged it, doing a spinning jump kick, which slammed the man against the wall, next to the door to the balcony.

Link sighed tiredly, dragging them all out, one by one, onto the balcony. With all his strength left from a short sleep, he dumped them over the two-story railing onto the grass below. It was dark, so he couldn't see where or how they landed, but he was honestly too tired to find out. He slunk back into the room, and then out to the main room to make sure the door was closed. He found it wide open. He closed it and made sure all the locks were locked. Then he went back to the bedroom, with Meghan still sleeping, and closed and locked all the doors in the room.

He walked back over to the bed, positioning himself as he had been before. He put his arm around her.

She flinched, but then realized it was he.

"_NOW you wake up_…" He wondered why she hadn't wakened before with all that noise, but NOW she did?

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I just heard something and got up to see what it was." He decided he would tell her what happened, but didn't want to worry her at that exact moment.

"OK…"

Because she hadn't really been awake at all, she fell asleep in only a little while. Link, however, took much, much longer because he was so concerned.

_Who were those people? Why did they want to attack us? What if they come back, and this time I don't wake? I closed all the doors, but they found a way to get in the front door, so they may find a way to get in again, if they're really desperate. _

Needless to say, sleep won the final battle.

"_Look at it…so sharp…so pleasing…it's right there, and all I have to do is pick it up. Quick enough. No one will even notice. Suicide is candy…yum…no one cares anymore…" She pulled the knife from the kitchen drawer and fearlessly wiped her finger along the blade. It was painful, but nothing, nothing was ever as painful as what happened..._

_She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and hid it in the sink, turning the water on while pretending to wash her hands._

"_What are you doing?" her mom asked, watching her hands rub each other with water._

_She turned around and glared at her. The mom's expression turned angry._

"_Answer me when I speak to you!" she screamed._

"_Respect me when I wash my hands!" she mocked. She turned the water off and ran up the stairs. The mother looked on in distress. She had carried a knife with her…she had been acting very strange lately. Nothing had ever baffled her so much._

_Safe in her room, the girl lay on her bed and stared at the knife. Soon pounding sounded on the door._

"_Open this door or I'll go get the key!"_

_She was ignored as the girl thought for a second, then cut herself on the face in the exact same spot the illusion had made a cut, and one on her arm where the illusion had made another cut. Satisfied, she threw it across the room and waited for her mother to battle her way in the room._

"_Dear mother, I am not conscious today. I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to talk to me and just leave and think about how you are going to bring about the exorcism of me."_

"Shina, this is just…the last and…this is just IT!" Link heard Zelda yell. Wow, he had never heard Zelda before. And in Hylian…

He didn't hear much, but he assumed the sound was coming from outside. He garbed his clothes and pulled them on, running out to the balcony and seeing what happened.

"Shina, no excuses! I want to know exactly why I found you here this morning, ARMED, with a bunch of your followers! I know it was nothing good, and what's worse is you're right below Meghan's window!"

"Zelda!" Link shouted from where he was. "I'll be right there to tell you."

"Link? You know?"

"Long story that I don't feel like yelling."

"Where's Meghan?"

"Sleeping still."

"Good. She's all right?"

"Yes." Link ran inside, pulling on his boots.

"Link, where are you going?"

"I'll be right back. I promise it'll only take a few minutes."

"OK…" He was gone. Meghan stretched and sat up. Then she noticed the door was open to her balcony. She was sure she didn't leave it open. And Link seemed to be in a hurry. And she could remember something happened last night. Why did he have to leave?

Meghan hurried to her closet and pulled on the first clothes she could find. Beige pants and a white top.

She pulled her hair out of the braid and didn't bother to comb it, only finger-combed as she ran outside to find Link. She realized she had no idea where he went.

She wandered around the halls for a bit, then sighed.

"Stupid. I should have asked where he was going." She went back to her room.

She went on her balcony just because she found the door opened, and was extremely lucky. "So that's where you went."

Link was talking to Zelda. She couldn't hear what he said, but there were some dudes down there, plus Luke and multiple other guards. Zelda would nod every couple of seconds.

Meghan thought that if she hurried, she could make it down there before Link was finished. She ran as fast as she could out to the gardens below her window.

When she spotted Link, she ran over to everyone, extremely confused about what was going on.

"Meghan…" Zelda said, tearful eyes watching her.

"What? Did something…?"

"It's nothing to worry about, kid," Luke said, a smile on his face, but Meghan could tell it was forced.

"Why are these guys here? Oh my god…is…" Meghan stared at the person only about ten feet away, surrounded by guards so, obviously, he wouldn't escape.

"Shina…" Zelda said in a shaky voice. "You have not heard the last of this. I promise you that your life, however long it will be, will not be very pleasant from now on…"

"Zelda…calm down. It's over. We'll have this finished," Luke said, comforting her. Whatever had happened, Zelda was extremely upset, and Meghan extremely confused. She knew something to do with Shina doing something wrong, but what?

"What happened?" Meghan asked quietly. Link gave her a strange look, one that looked confused as well, and yet seeming that he wanted to tell.

"Meghan, promise that you won't get upset if I tell you. I don't want you to worry."

"What is it? I promise I won't." Meghan stared at him with pleading eyes. If it were something she would worry about, then she would only worry more if she didn't know what it was.

"Meghan…last night…I…he…"

"Link, do you want me to say it? You seem a bit uneasy telling her," Luke asked in Hylian. Link shook his head as Meghan wondered what had been said.

Link took a deep breath. "Shina and his friends…they came into the castle…into…" Link sighed and gave up.

"Goddesses, I can't do this. I don't want her to worry. I can't…" he said in Hylian.

"Link, we have to. I can feel it. She only worries more," Zelda said.

"Link?" Luke asked, instead of restating his question before.

"Please…could you…"

"Meghan, what Link was trying to say was that there was an attempted murder last night. We managed to get that much out of these guys, but they wouldn't mention whom. But when Link came down and told us the story, we were sure. Meghan, the murder…it was supposed to be you."

"Me? Oh…that's lovely…" Meghan was shocked. Link looked extremely distraught. Zelda looked like she was trying to hold back tears.

"_The pain…even though we suffered, they're still here. Nothing can destroy them. The pain…it was all for nothing_."

"Zelda, don't think that way. We'll have these idiots in confinement and they won't harm anyone else for the rest of their lives."

"But there could be others, Luke!"

"We'll just make sure security is higher."

"But Luke! If they got in…they got in HER room which was specially guarded by my magic…they snuck in without notice until the last second…one more second, they could have been dead."

"But Zelda, they're not!"

As Luke and Zelda argued, Link stayed strangely quiet. His eyes were blank and lifeless…the same words flowing through his mind a thousand times over…

"_What she needs is someone to protect her."_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…_

_She needs someone to protect her…._

"Link, are you OK?" Meghan asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Meghan…"

"Link, please tell me, you know exactly what happened, right? Why did they stop?"

"You were sleeping. I woke up because I heard something, and they were there. So c-close…"

"But you didn't tell me! I woke up! You just said that you heard something and that's why you got up! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to worry! I'm sorry…I know I should have…but…I didn't want you…I thought you would be better off not knowing. I really didn't know either. I guess I was way too tired."

"Link, you didn't get hurt, did you?" Meghan touched his arm, partially sympathetically, partly trying to understand him.

"No, I'm fine, I promise."

"Link…" She leaned over and hugged him; the strange feeling that meant she felt like she could cry came over her. She hugged him as tight as possible…. "Thank you, Link. Thank you…what would I do without you?"

"What would you do if I wasn't watching you?" he added humorously. Meghan laughed as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, partly from confusion, partly from anger, partly from being scared, but mostly for love. She hoped he was OK.

**_What would _you_ do?_**

Back in Meghan's room, they were unsure of what to say. Link made the first mood.

They were sitting on the couch, sort of caddy-cornered, with Meghan leaning back on Link and his arms around her stomach. "Megs. I have to tell you something."

"It sounds like more bad news."

"…It is, but I suppose I should just get it over with now, so later I don't have to worry. Well, really two things. I had a dream last night…"

"That girl."

"What?"

"I just remembered I had a dream about someone. But go on."

"I had a dream about a girl too. It was in a strange place…with all sorts of weird things I've never seen. But she was…very sad and something. I can't remember what her face looked like, though. I just remember her voice, because it sounded like yours before."

"She was in my kitchen…she was with my knife…she went to my room…"

"What do you mean? Your room? Was that where it was?"

"We had the same dream. I think. Did her mom come?"

"Yeah. She was hurting herself."

"It was my room, back home. Did you see it? That's what it looked like. And my kitchen. And that same knife. Funny, I remember everything…even how our knives looked…"

"But then…"

"That mom. My mom. Isn't she annoying?"

"…And that means…"

"Why would I be back home, and try to… kill myself? Why did we have the same dream?"

"I don't think it was a dream…I think it was…a prophecy…"

"Maybe, if we both had, Zelda had it too?"

"But wait…it can't be a prophecy…unless you did that in the past, why would you do it in the future? You're not there anymore."

"Unless…" Meghan's stomach flipped, her eyes growing wide.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just a dream…" he said quickly, trying not to get her worried.

"Then…if it was really a dream, then why did we have the same dream?"

"Coincidence."

"Link…"

"What?"

"Don't do that. I know you're lying."

"But I couldn't bare to tell you the truth," he said quietly.

"It's OK. I don't mind…"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, hearing random sounds, but nothing much. The slam of a door, birds singing, and water flowing if they listened carefully, but silence.

"There was something else you were going to tell me," she reminded.

"…Oh…that…"

"What was it?"

"It's about…oh no, I completely forgot for a while…but I have to…I…"

"What is it?"

"It has to do with that journal. The first few pages said something." He paused for a while.

"What did they say? In the journal?"

"Sierace…"

"Sierace! The person who wrote the notes. To Impa. But what connection do they have? What does it have to do with you?"

"That girl, Sierace, was a descendant of nobility. She, just as Zelda, was in danger when Ganon can to power, because her family was closely entangled in the affairs of the Royal Family. Her whole family was killed, and she saw it all.

But Sierace, as a young kid, was imprisoned in the castle because she was accused of being a traitor along with her family. Her family was accused of helping the other side in the great war. But she was only four at the time of that war. It makes no sense, because they arrested her later when she was around nine. I don't get why. She was only a kid."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Meghan, Sierace knew my family."

"How do you know that?"

"I read it. Well…"

"But…"

"But what?"

"Well, did she say your last name?"

"No."

"Then how do you know it was you? Just curious."

"I know, because it's highly unlikely there's anyone else whose mother went to the Forbidden Forest, as it was known then, to seek refuge from the war."

"OK."

"Named Link."

"Yeah," she agreed. "So what about her? How does she know about you and stuff?"

"It said that she knew my family. That's all I know. And she's older than me. So she might know something about them."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I need to talk to her."

"Where is she?"

"That's the part I don't know."

"Well, how are we going to find her? Does she live around here? In Kakariko?"

"I know she doesn't live there."

"Where does she live?"

"I don't know, Meghan," he said, and Meghan swore it was slightly annoyed so she stayed quiet. After a few seconds, he said, "I'll ask Zelda about it. She can help me, I'm sure. But I don't want to worry her, or anything."

"Didn't…Luke…used to be a…spymaster?"

"Did he?"

"Yeah! Remember? He might know."

"I guess."

"It's worth asking him."

"You're right."

"Cool."

Link didn't want to tell her that he knew she didn't live anywhere around here, at least not somewhere they could go, talk, and come back within a day. He nodded to himself.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"All of what?"

"You wanted to say."

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

"Good, because today is April 30th, 2005 where I live. And we're wearing the same color pants."

He laughed. "No matter what mood we're in, I can always count on you to make it all better."

"Better believe it!"

LATER…

Link and Meghan stopped by Luke's office. They knocked at the door.

"Come in," said an occupied voice. Link opened the door and they stepped inside, seeing Luke leaning on his hand on his desk, writing something. "Can I help you? Oh, just you two."

"Luke, we need your help. If you can," Link said urgently.

"What is it?"

"I need to find someone."

"Link…I'm not really n charge of that information anymore."

"You're got to be able to help. I don't want to go to anyone else. It's extremely important."

Luke sighed. "Alright, but only for you. What do you need me to get?"

"A girl's location, by the name of Sierace."

"Sierace, huh? Well, I might actually know a bit of info about her."

"Really?" Meghan asked.

"Zelda asked me to keep this information extremely safe, so I didn't leave it behind to the next spymaster. I have it here, but I won't need it. I memorized everything, just because it's that important." Luke stood up and sat on his desk so he was more at level with them. "I can see why you want to see her."

"Luke, if you have all the info on her, you obviously don't have it all," Meghan said.

"What?" he asked out of confusion.

"She means we found some things that belong to her in her room."

"Oh, right. So…her location?"

"Yeah."

"OK. This is complicated, so…" he leaned over his desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. "Sierace lives in solitude, far away. It is not a distance traveled in one day. It's extremely long. However, there are short cuts, but I don't know any of them. All I know is that once in a while, Sierace will get into contact with Zelda. I've never seen what she writes about, but you could ask her."

"So people can get there faster than a day?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how. There are a few messengers who will go to her and send notes back and forth, but they are all children, around twelve or something, all of them who know. We would follow them, but Zelda said not to invade Sierace's privacy."

"Why not?"

"She doesn't want to be known because people still think she's betrayed them. But most people don't even know she's till alive."

"That's terrible!" Meghan cried. "She never did anything in the first place!"

"Of course she didn't, but we can't, and shouldn't, take any chances with other people. So we have to let her live alone. If people knew…" They all had sad faces on.

"Well, if you want to know, I'll tell you. The whole trip will take about a day and a half, if you stop at night. Which means you'll have to camp somewhere because there's no civilization from here to there. The path to get there is through the forest behind the castle. It's somewhat easy to follow, but it is very long. You'll get sick of trees when you're out of there."

"That's good."

"Yes, well…." He wrote something on the paper. It was a nice, long paragraph. Nice, long, and Hylian. Meghan sighed. "Sorry, Meghan, but it I'm much faster in Hylian. Link can translate," he said distractedly as he wrote.

She noticed how beautiful the symbols were. They were lines, all put together, but still lovely lines.

When Luke was finished he handed the paper to Link.

"It's tricky, and far, but you can do it."

"Sure," he said as he read it over.

"What do you mean by tricky?"

"Oh, just the path you have to follow," Link answered. Meghan had a feeling that wasn't why.

"You're both trying to hide something from me."

"No, I'll tell you exactly what it says. It says, 'follow the left path until you get to a crossroads, then go right and straight until you get to the fork, then go right again, then the next fork, go left, then the next crossroads, go straight. Then climb the mountain.'"

"A mountain?"

"That's the tricky part."

"Oh, OK…so we have to climb a mountain? Does it have a path like Death Mountain?"

Link closed his eyes and sighed quietly. He looked distressed. "No."

"So we have to climb a mountain? How big is it?"

"It's pretty big," Luke supplied.

"OK."

"Meghan, there's a part that I don't know in the directions, but Zelda knows. Can you go get Zelda? She's in the throne room."

"O…K…" She looked at Link, who stared down at the paper. "I'll be back."

Meghan left the room. Link looked at Luke.

"Luke…I can't keep this secret from her," he said in Hylian.

"She'll find out sooner or later. Just delay it till later."

Link looked at the notes and read its real contents:

"_Link, don't tell her this is what it says. Most of what I said wasn't true. The place is actually very far away, a journey of about two or three days. It'll take at least five days to go there and back, and a week if you stay for a day or two._"

"So, Link, if you want to send Sierace a letter, Zelda has a magical system that'll get the letters there and back in a few hours."

"Yeah, just to let her know I'm coming…"

"Sierace is a very nice person. I've never met her, but Zelda has told me about her and her story."

"Yeah. So is there really a mountain?"

"Link, you thought that up, not me!"

"I know. But seriously?"

"No. It's flat forest. You really will get tired of trees after a while."

"OK. I was…just wondering." He stared down for a second. "I have to go, it's the only way that I'll be able to find out about myself. Really, I don't know anything about myself. Just a name, some random info, and that's it. If Sierace is who she says she is, then she will know of my family."

"I'm sure you'll find much wanted and needed information. But what's the deal with Meghan? Is she going to come with you?"

"I don't know. Does Sierace want her to?"

"I'm sure she doesn't mind, but Sierace lives in a remote territory of Hyrule with a group of people, either outcasts or people who wanted to be away from the rest of the world. The houses are spaced quite far apart, but close enough so that they can trade within themselves."

"Outcasts?"

"Most accused of things during the war. People escaped there during that war. Also people who were wanted during it. We found the settlement years afterward."

"But you haven't been there?"

"I had wanted to go, but I was busy here, and then I got this job, and now I can't leave."

"Oh."

MEANWHILE…

Meghan looked in the desolate room. Yes, there were thrones in it, but no people. Meghan looked around; making sure Zelda wasn't in some indistinguishable corner.

"But…Luke…" Meghan sighed. She might have moved since Luke knew she was here.

"Oh well." She went to the hallway and thought where Zelda might be. Maybe her room? "Worth a shot."

Meghan traveled all the way to the other side of the castle, where the rooms were. Meghan walked to Zelda's room. She knocked gently on the door at first, then loudly.

"Zelda?" she called, hearing nothing at first. About to walk away in dismay, she heard a voice. It was quiet, and stuffed.

"Who is it?" the frail voice called out. Meghan didn't even recognize it as Zelda, though she knew it had to be.

"Meghan."

"Oh, come in!" she said, slightly brighter. Meghan slowly opened the door. Zelda was walking toward her, hair a bit ruffled and dress wrinkled. Her eyes were red and wet. She had a smile, though.

"Zelda? Are you OK?"

"Of course I am. I'm jut a bit depressed today, that's all. Nothing more."

"Zelda, you of all people-"

"It happens to everyone. Even princess Triforce-holding sages. But I'm glad you're here."

"What's the matter, Zelda?"

"So much has happened today. I just came to rest. Last night I barely slept, because I had a prophecy again." Zelda tried to smile, but it flickered and faded.

"You probably had the same dream as us."

"You? You and Link?"

"We had a dream…about a girl. She was…"

"She was in a strange place, weird place with strange things around. A big black box, a smaller black box, cabinets, drawers, a spout of some sort, a box with a door and strange circles on top. I don't know where the place was."

"It was my kitchen, at home. My birth home." Zelda's eyes opened wide, but she forced a smile.

"Kitchen? What a kitchen! What were those strange things?"

Meghan knew she was forcing it, because she had realized that the girl in the dream was Meghan, so she tried to steer the conversation away from that.

"That's not the point," she responded. "Zelda, you know who it was."

"Yes, I now know."

"Exactly."

"Meghan, please, come sit." She walked over to a fluffy armchair and plopped down. Meghan followed, sitting on another next to Zelda's. Zelda smoothed out her dress and hair, and then took a deep breath. "We need to figure out what that was, so it can be prevented."

"Link and I decided that it was merely a stupid dream. Why would I be back there? It's not going to happen."

"I see." Zelda played with a piece of hair; something Meghan had never seen her do.

Link and her knew that it wasn't just a dream, and she knew Meghan knew too. But she couldn't admit it; it was so hard today, any day.

Meghan completely forgot about why she came here, and instead started to talk with Zelda.

"So, I don't really get it. What is going to happen to Shina?" she asked quietly, not wanting to upset Zelda.

"Well…I really don't know…because I don't…I just don't know."

"OK, that's OK…"

"But…I mean, he came back, so what if he…came back again if I banished him…or didn't come back and cause trouble somewhere else? What if he did that?"

"No, Zelda, I'm sure he won't," Meghan responded as soon as she sensed a hint of hysteria.

"But we don't know that! What if he does?" Zelda's eyes sparkled with tears, making her sapphire eyes even more beautiful.

"Zelda, no, it's OK. If he does come back, which he won't, that made no sense, then he won't be able to do anything, because we'll all be OK and we have people here to protect us."

"I'm sure you're right, though…I don't know. It's so hard. Barely two weeks and I'm failing already!"

"You are NOT failing, Zelda! If you were failing, the country would be in ruins by now, people would be starving, and…well, I don't even know where we'd be, but that's OK. Please don't say that or tell yourself that, because you know it's not true."

"But…I just feel…"

"Zelda, you're doing wonderful! I promise you are. I'm not going to lie."

"I suppose you're correct."

"Your problem is that you're just too modest." Zelda laughed a bit, and then sighed.

"You're right."

"Now, come on Zelda, cheer up and stuff. We have things to do today!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know! But that's OK! Oh! I just remembered. Luke and Link need you."

"What for?"

"Something to do with a person…named…Sierace. They need to know where she lives or something."

Zelda's eyes grew wide, but she quickly masked it. "Where are they?"

"Luke's office thing."

"OK, let's go." Zelda and Meghan stood. Zelda quickly fixed her hair and dress and they exited the room.

MEANWHILE…

"Oh, by the way, Link. Zelda wasn't actually in the throne room. I just told her to go there so she would…leave. So we could talk."

"So she's gone on a mad hunt throughout the castle to find Zelda for something we didn't actually need her for, while crazy people could still be lurking?"

"Basically, yeah. Don't worry, though. She'll be fine. Extra guards are on duty-"

"I don't care if there are a million guards to each entrance!" Link exploded. Luke was calm. Link shut up, but then said quietly. "I just…wor…ry…"

"We all do. It's the only thing we can do. But I'm positive they're all gone."

"By the way, where did you put them?"

"Even Zelda couldn't say no to the dungeon, for those guys. I don't blame her for not doing it before, though. It's disgusting. One might almost feel bad for someone who had not committed such a terrible crime if they were down there. But they deserve it."

Link nodded in agreement. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Luke said, seeing it was Zelda and Meghan. _She found her…_

"Luke…what did you tell these people about Sierace?" Zelda asked, in Hylian. Meghan fumed.

"I only didn't tell Meghan. I just thought it was best not to, considering. Where Sierace lives is not the most kid-friendly place in the world, and I'd think that either Link or Sierace would fear for her safety. Oh, wait. Link already does." He nudged Link.

"All right, I understand now. So what did you tell her?"

"Sierace doesn't like visitors," Luke teased.

"You know she wouldn't mind. I do understand, however, if Link doesn't want her to go, considering the long journey, and the danger level."

"I don't mind if she comes, really, I just don't want to get into any fights, or put her in any danger. You know that, Zelda," Link broke in.

"Perhaps we should contact her first, no?" Zelda asked in English.

"Good idea."

Meghan looked from person to person, feeling like a small child in the midst of a bunch of grown-up talk.

"I don't mean to whine, but can somebody tell me what just happened?"

"We're going to talk to Sierace first. Before we deicide anything."

"Anything about what?"

"How smart it is to bring extra people along," Link muttered.

"So just you and me, maybe?" Meghan didn't understand why he looked so upset.

He gazed at her, eyes penetrating her own. He blinked once, trying to figure something out.

"Oh, you mean me?"

Link sighed. She had figured it out. He should have known.

"Uh…yeah…" he whispered.

"Oh, OK. Well, we have to tell her, right? So why don't we send a letter to her?"

"Great idea Meghan!" Zelda said, breaking the tension in the room. "In fact, come now and we will do it right now!" Zelda swiftly opened the door, waiting for them to follow. They all filed out.

Zelda led them around corridors they had not yet explored, to a room they had never seen before. It looked just like any other room they had seen along the way, but its contents were special.

"What is it?" Meghan asked, stepping forward towards something.

It was a circular, thick column, set directly in the middle of the room. The room was of stone and cold, and empty except for a desk at the other side of it. It was a strange thing to be there. The column was built of what seemed like marble, halfway. It had designs of all sorts around its base. The weirdest thing was that, halfway up, it stopped being made of marble, and instead looked like a blue light, shining upward until it reached the ceiling.

"It transports materials. Don't touch. Your hand might be transported," cautioned Zelda.

"Ouch! Are you serious?"

"Yes. Just the blue part, though. The pillar is safe."

Meghan peered into it. The light was so think she could barely see the desk behind it. The column seemed to be hollow; she saw only a black hole in the middle of it that seemed to go on forever.

"Link, come here." Zelda brought him to the desk, where she took a piece of paper and a pen, and gave it to him. "Write whatever you feel necessary."

Meghan followed him, watching him as he sat down and thought of what to write. He lifted the pen to the paper, and began to make neat lines that formed the Hylian words. He looked like he had good handwriting.

"What are you saying?"

He thought for a second and stopped writing.

"I've only written 'Dear Sierace' so far."

"Oh." Meghan laughed. She thought it was sort of strange that so many characters were worth those two words.

Meghan watched carefully as he gently created each letter, and then finally signed it at the bottom.

"What does it say?"

"Basically that I want to meet her and asking when would be OK."

"OK."

Link folded the note and handed it to Zelda, who walked over to the strange transporter. She closed her eyes and concentrated, then put her hand in the blue light. The letter disappeared, but her hand stayed in place.

Meghan looked from person to person. Zelda watched expectantly, her hand in midair. Luke leaned against the wall, also watching to transporter. Link stared intently at it. Meghan looked confused.

After a few minutes, she grew impatient. She switched from one foot to another, cautiously gazing into the depths of the blue light. She looked down into where she thought the column would be, but it looked hollow, and all she could see was endless black. She looked up. There was nothing but the ceiling.

She jumped back suddenly as something popped up from the sea of black below. She smiled, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her plight.

Zelda grabbed the letter from the light's grasp and handed it to Link right away. He broke the fancy seal, after he observed it carefully. He read, scrutinizing it. Finally he looked up, his face relaxing. Everyone looked expectantly.

"She just said that she received the letter, and that she's writing a letter at this very moment. She just didn't want us to wait."

_We contacted her!_ Excitement and fear welled inside of Meghan. She was excited that Link could possibly learn something of his past, but feared what could be in store for them both. Completely forgetting the day's events, they all looked expectantly around, and waited for the real letter to arrive.

Just when they were all so impatient that they couldn't wait any longer, another letter came. Link carefully broke the seal again, and set his eyes upon the letter, two pieces of their snow-white parchment. He devoured the writing, taking all of it in. Several unconscious expressions played across his face as he read it. Meghan leaned over his shoulder, not wanting to invade his space, but knowing he didn't mind since she couldn't understand anything anyway.

His eyes swept over it one last time, making sure nothing was forgotten.

"She says…I can come soon. As soon as possible would be best, she said. Within the week. She's planning to go somewhere, so this week would be best, especially since it'll take a few days to get there."

"OK, when do we—you…leave?"

"I don't know. Meghan, I'm so sorry, but she said…"

"What is it?" she asked in a soft tone.

"She said it would be best if I came alone. Traveling will be faster and everything will go smoother."

"Oh, right," Meghan said in a small voice. She could feel the stares of surrounding people piercing though her, watching for her reaction. She stared at him for a second, and then looked down. It suddenly felt as though their conversation was artificial, a supernatural occurrence that they would find wasn't real. She started breathing heavily, almost shaking, like people sometimes do when they are extremely upset or angered or confused or anything else she might have been feeling.

"I'm so sorry, but…it's dangerous, it really is, and don't worry, I'll be fine. It's just…Sierace…"

"Fine, it's OK," Meghan snapped. She suddenly felt angry at him for putting Sierace before herself, and wanting him to tell Sierace that she was coming whether she liked it or not. She looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to escape the anger that plagued her because she knew it was unnecessary.

"Meghan…please…"

"Just write her something back. Go ahead, do it. I'm fine, I said that already."

Link looked at her with a concerned face. She wasn't looking at him, but she had a feeling he was. Finally he gave in, sitting at the desk and pulling a new fresh piece of stark-white parchment from the desk and began his return note.

Meghan didn't watch him with as much intent as last time, but instead merely glanced as she took her spot leaning on the wall, eyeing it from the corner of her eye.

Link's message was much shorter that time. She suspected it was merely a confirmation, and, knowing him, a thank you or something along those lines.

The last letter was sent through, and a short time later, the reply came, and, as Link translated, it said,

"Everything is done. Thank you."

From the point on, they all stared at each other. Meghan couldn't fathom what Zelda and Luke were thinking, but she had a pretty good idea Link was thinking about leaving, and specifically, without her.

Finally, They all noticed each other and somehow realized that it was time to leave the strange room. Without even a word, they all walked to the door and came out.

With nods to each other, they went their separate ways. Zelda and Luke went one way, while Meghan and Link went back to Meghan's room.

Solemnly, they entered her room. Meghan sighed and walked into her bedroom, throwing herself onto her bed, which had been made up since she had left the room. Lying stomach-down, she hugged a pillow tightly underneath herself, propping her chin up on it. She stared at the headboard, watching its patterns as though they were performing an intricate, amusing dance, but they were still. Time seems to stand still when you don't do anything, so she believed that if she did nothing forever, he would never have to leave and she would be better.

She felt a soft touch on her back and a slight dip on the bed as he sat on its edge. Without words, and as silent as Hyrule Field on a cold winter day, they told each other everything would be OK. Everything would be fine, they told each other, and everything was not fine at the same time.

Wrapping a string arm around her waist, and delicately pulling her toward him, he rocked her in his arms and whispered, "I wish there was another way. I can't even say what I feel, leaving you behind."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck and feeling like a little girl hugging a supportive adult-figure.

Deciding that his position was uncomfortable, Link lifted Meghan slightly and regained their position somewhere in the middle of her bed, propped up against the humongous pile of pillows behind them. Meghan shifted her position so that she used his body as a sort of pillow. He put his arms around to her to rest on her lower back and that was the extent of their movement.

They did not move when they heard a distant clock strike the hour of fourteen. (2:00 for you wimps out there) They did not stir when they heard muffled conversations coming from the slightly opened balcony doors. They didn't budge for anything.

Meghan's eyes began to droop as she listened to his breathing, and something else within his chest. A heart beat steadily. She listened. She found it strange. If the function of a human heart was to transport blood throughout the body, and the Hylians retained no blood within their bodies, then what was the function of their hearts? How were nutrients and such transported through the body without some liquid or other?

When she felt his heart, it surprised her a bit in the beginning, even though she had felt her own heart before his, after she had changed. She also surprised herself by not knowing. She was one of them now, yet she knew nothing of who she was, other than what Link had told her. He wasn't much of a science person, though.

Shame on him.

It was then when she realized that, if she was going to be without him for a while, she might as well use the time wisely.

_Learning about Hylian anatomy and biology shall be my first step, _she thought. Then a thought crossed her mind as she thought of all the things she had to, and should, do. Something she had asked Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom. Rather, Nayru asked her and she realized the question she had.

She prepared to ask the question, not knowing which way it would turn, but hoping for the best. All in all, she had to admit that it was a stupid question, but still needed to be asked. It could be dangerous.

"Um…Link?" she asked, breaking the silence. He stirred, mumbling a "yeah?" so she continued. "Um…this is a question, but…um, someone told me to…told me that I HAD to ask it, so please don't think I'm being ungrateful because I enjoy it very, very much, but…" she braced herself for the question, "Why me?"

"Why you what?"

"Why did you pick me, out of all the girls in Hyrule who are ten times better looking than I?"

He seemed to be affected by the question, whether it was shock, amusement, disbelief, or something else she wasn't sure. She was relieved, though, when she felt and heard a jovial laugh emanating from his chest, though it ended soon.

"Meghan, what a question! Do you want me to answer technically, or just the actual point why?"

"Eh…"

"OK, well, technically…wait, what other people are you talking about?"

"I don't know."

"OK…we'll start with…actually, I don't even know who to start with because I can't imagine being with anyone other than you."

"I should have thought of that, because me neither."

"It just doesn't work with anything else. It's destiny, and destiny is ours to hold and to treasure. I hope that answers your question."

"Of course. Nayru will be happy now that I've actually asked it."

"Nayru?"

"Yes, incredibly long story. It would take days to describe, as it rightfully should be. And since…well, you're leaving tomorrow, the story would not get its justice."

"Then I look forward to the day I return with most hopeful eyes."

"So do I…"

"I'll love you forever," he murmured passionately.

"I love you too," she responded. She snuggled into him, breathing his scent as though no other scent existed. It was intoxicating.

_Believe me, I do._

**Yo. Did you like? No like? Well, yes I was slightly sad when I wrote this chapter. Which is why it may be a bit angsty. )shrug( For once I don't have millions of things to blab about. Just a few facts, like this chapter is a measly 20 pages long, and the whole story is…something like 380+ pages. Yeah.  
Review answers will be in a review, like last time. **


	67. Death Is a Midnight Runner

**You know what? This is like WHOOOAA. Me, continuing the story? After I've established that I absolutely HATE Link with all my heart and stuff. **

**Well, yes. I'm continuing it. I dunno…I felt like I was a loser and was worthless because I've never finished a story before, and this one had gotten so far before I stopped. Why should I let the mere subject stop me? I'll treat it like a school assignment. It has to get done. Even though it's a year or so late. (I'd always planned for it to be done before my 14th birthday…you know that never happened!)**

**So, one day, I was all "hmm…I forgot what even happened in that story." So I went back and read it, finding it surprisingly intriguing. Me, have writing talent? It might have been so! It's gone now, and I'm totally a different person so please don't think me too conceited…lol. As I read, I realized that there were many stupid things I'd like to change, and before I wasn't such a grammar/spelling guru so now I'm all NOOOOOO, MISTAKES!**

**The things I would change are the most obviously stupid things about this. Firstly, I'd totally change the fact that Hylians can't bleed, because let me tell you, it wasn't easy trying to think of a new species a year after I stopped taking biology especially. And I liked when Meghan bled. It makes Link crazy! Lol. And another thing is Meghan knew all about Hyrule. Now I have to go and find an explanation for THAT! How would the pitiful humans know about the world and make it into a video game? Miyamoto must have been contacted by the goddesses in his dreams or something! Lol. Maybe that's what I'll put.**

**So anyway, yeah, I returned. Not because I like this stuff or anything anymore, but just because I feel like fulfilling my life and writing the damn story. And there's a sequel too. I figure after this chapter, only two more chapters and then it's done. Then sequel time. Yay!**

**Now, old or new reviewers, I dunno, but please enjoy whoever you are! I worked very hard on this and had to research a lot, because I forgot everything that happened in the game and I lost my memory card for the game. And I don't really want to go play it.**

The very next day, it was time for him to leave. With unexplainable sadness, Meghan awoke. She felt it in her stomach from the second she was conscious, She shivered in his arms, as they had both fallen asleep on the couch because they were talking until the wee hours in the morning.

She planted a tiny peck on his cheek, brushing his hair out of his closed eyes. He woke slowly, smiling as he observed her face not too far away.

"Morning," she said sleepily, standing and stretching.

"Yeah," he responded, sitting straight. She sat back down next to him.

"So…today."

"Yeah, today."

"That sucks."

"Yes, sucks."

"You said 'sucks.'"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you agree."

"Would I not?"

And so began another pointless, procrastinating conversation. When they had said all needless things they had to say, Meghan and Link stood up. Meghan displayed a confused expression on her face, and then said shakily, "You should pack what you're going to need to bring."

"Yes. I'll need to speak with Zelda about a few things I'll need to bring. You know, food…food for Epona…. Would you like to go with me?"

"Yeah, I just need to change my clothes, though."

"Me too."

"OK, if you want to use my bathroom, go ahead. Well, actually I didn't need to tell you to do that because you can use my bathroom any time you want, but, yeah. I'll just go in there…" She slinked over to her bedroom and closed the door slowly.

She pulled on a pair of black pants, and a short sleeved black shirt. Feeling very sad today, she also put on black boots. She left her hair down, combing its part to the exact middle and letting a piece fall in front of her eye.

Yes, today was…emo.

When she entered the main room, Link was already there, waiting for her. He had a blank expression on his face, just staring at a spot on an inanimate object for a while, clearly thinking something complicated.

She walked over to his and stared at what he stared at until he looked at her, still distracted.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

Meghan sighed and threw her hands around his neck. "I know." She rested her forehead on his shoulder. "But isn't that something?"

"I suppose it is," he responded, stroking her hair. She sat down. "I was thinking about what I will ever do without you."

"I think the same way. There's been barely a few hours we've been apart for a month or so now."

"A couple of days, now, it'll be…"

"I know…I…"

"Me too. I wish you could come, but…Sierace…you can't. It's too dangerous."

"Is it really that dangerous?"

"Must be."

"Well then perhaps we should get you ready."

Link turned his head and nodded, staring deeply into her eyes, letting in every glimmer of light reflected by the wetness of her eyes into his own. Slowly she leaned forward and rested her forehead against his, confiding in his strength and wisdom and hoping they would be OK.

LATER…

"Do you have everything you need?" Zelda asked as Link slowly strapped on the last of the saddlebags to Epona. Meghan stood next to Epona and stroked her gently. Link nodded.

"That should be everything. I'm only leaving for about a week, goddesses."

"I know, I just want to be sure." She stopped. "We'll all miss you, Link."

"I'm only leaving for a week," he repeated, frustration hinted in his voice. "I'll be back in a week."

Meghan listened to their conversation from the other side of Epona, but didn't feel like joining in. She rested her cheek against Epona and messaged her. Epona seemed to sense their unhappiness and nuzzled Meghan. She smiled for a second, but it faded.

From behind her she felt a gentle touch on her back. She turned and faced Zelda.

"You can't hide behind Epona forever."

"_Don't let him leave_," she whispered.

"It is inevitable."

Meghan sighed. "I just want to be alone," she tried to say as politely as possible.

"Of course," Zelda said, giving her a smile and walking away towards Luke. Meghan put her arms around Epona's neck. She could feel Link adjusting the saddle through Epona, but suddenly stopped. She assumed he was finished and cringed as a lump formed in her throat.

"Meghan," he called softly to her. He was now on the other side of Epona, with her. "Meghan, talk to me."

"Link…don't leave, you can't!" She said into Epona's coat.

"I have to…"

"You don't have to do anything!"

"Meghan, please, please don't argue. It's not the time nor the place and I don't feel like arguing just now."

"I'm not arguing, I'm just saying you can't go."

"You're being childish. I have a million reasons to go." Then quickly he realized that she might have taken that the wrong way. "But I have a million more to stay. Please, I promise I'll be back before you know it. I don't want you to be sad, and you're overreacting. Well, we're all overreacting, but please just look at me."

She did.

"Thank you. I'll be back in a week, if not less. I don't believe it'll take any longer. She knows I'm coming; I'll stay for a day or two, and leave. Nothing more. Nothing will happen to me. You'll be fine. You'll have time to do things you couldn't do with me tagging along."

"I…suppose."

"Thank you, Megs. Can I just have a hug before I go?"

"**Of course!" She stepped forward and squeezed him. Then he placed a kiss on her forehead, and stepped away.**

Before she knew it, they had said their goodbyes and Link was nearly out of sight, into the forest. She only just began to realize what happened.

"Now he's gone," she whispered to herself. "The first time ever."

"Meghan—" Zelda began in a worried tone. But Meghan turned and smiled slightly.

"Now I can go learn more biology!" she said happily, beaming now. "The first thing I would like to learn is how the Hylian body works. How are essential nutrients transported throughout the body without blood? Do the stomach and other internal organs work the same way? Why can't you guys choke, and what's with the extremely weird anaerobic respiration?"

Zelda and Luke were relieved that they didn't have to go to extra measures to get Meghan to cheer up.

"Feel free to use the castle's library, then! I'm sure you'll find what you need--in almost any language you desire."

"Even French?"

"Well…"

"That's cool. I'm getting right to it!" She started walking off towards the castle. "I need a notebook…and a pen…" she mumbled to herself as she walked away.

The royal library was huge and must have stored every book known to every species in every dimension ever created. Meghan found paper and a pencil on a desk near the front of the library. She looked around, then decided to start looking for the books she needed on the right side of the huge room.

She looked at the books on the far right wall. She frowned.  
"Why must they all be in Hylian?" she moaned.

She turned to the wall behind her. Hylian. The next three shelf/walls were all Hylian too.

But finally, she spotted a few titles on a shelf in her language. They weren't the books she was looking for, but she was glad that she was getting closer. She read the titles of the books, seemingly fiction, and thought that when she was done with her research, she would come back and look at a few of these titles. They looked interesting. She noticed a book or two on magic, and she thought those would be interesting to check out too. She wondered if she was now able to do magic.

Then there were a few non-fiction books. They were random biographies and other stories. The next shelf was reference.

She looked carefully at each title, thinking whether or not they would be helpful. The titles _Hylian Anatomy_, _Inside the Hylian_, and a few books containing scientific essays caught her eye, so she removed them from the shelves. She quickly glanced through all them, making sure they were what she wanted. Then she brought them to the back on the library, where she had seen chairs and tables for reading.

She sat on a fluffy armchair that conveniently had a hard, desk-like surface attached to the right arm. It folded down to the side when not needed.

She opened _Hylian Anatomy _and began looking at all the pictures. This book, she decided, would be helpful to her for many reasons. It contained detailed pictures on every other page on the left, then explanations on the right. The first page was the general outside appearance of a Hylian. She quickly turned the page, because the drawn Hylian woman and man were not…um…clothed.

The next page was the bone structure. It was, as far as she could tell, very similar to the human structure. The names given opposite the diagram were different, however, but there seemed to be the same amount of bones, because they were all numbered for easy reading of the diagram. There was an anterior and posterior view of the skeleton.

She counted the ribs—there are 24 on a human body—and was surprised when she counted 26. The way they were shaped, she noticed, as she looked closer, was a little different. The sternum was longer and the whole ribcage was shaped more round in the front instead of opening in a triangular shape. The difference was subtle, though. She didn't really notice any other differences, but she wondered why it was that way. _Natural selection, by what advantage does it have?_ She thought that perhaps the diagram could have been inaccurate, but doubted it. She jotted down,

"Larger ribcage with 26 ribs—possible extra organ? Extra protection for lifestyle lived?"

The next page was muscular structure. It seemed about the same. She didn't look over it too much.

After that was a diagram of the internal organs, first a full body picture, then larger individual pictures of each on the next few pages. She looked in the ribcage area and found what she was looking for. There was a round organ below the heart. It was attached to the bottom of the heart with a vein-like tube.

"Hello, what are you?" She looked at the page opposite the diagram. It was labeled the "selura." A few pages later there was a more detailed description of the heart and the selura. The heart seemed to be larger in proportion to the rest of the body in the Hylian.

"The heart pumps the seluric material throughout the body in small veins," it began. She took notes on several things. The seluric material seemed to be a clear to whitish substance that was sticky. It acted as some sort of fast-acting platelet-like material, healing wounds as soon as they were made.

But even though she learned of this new selura, she couldn't understand why there wasn't any blood. She read the heart and seluria descriptions twice, but nothing talked of any sort of liquid that transported the nutrients. It was frustrating. She didn't feel like there was nothing inside of her. She thought maybe it was magic that kept Hylians going, but she didn't feel magical either. She was sure that wasn't the case.

But maybe they don't think they have blood? Maybe the seluric material prevented blood from being exposed. Could their scientific knowledge be limited? Maybe they didn't think they had blood because no one had veer thought of the idea before! It would make sense, since where they lived was like a sanitary Middle Ages. There wasn't extensive technology or anything, so maybe their scientific knowledge was of the same level.

She felt certain that there was something yet undiscovered in the Hylian world. Maybe she could help! But if they knew of the internal organs, which probably weren't known until later in the years of humans, then why wouldn't they have found out about blood?

She jotted down a few more notes:

"Possible functions of selura/heart:

Selura was made as a form of blood clotting like platelets and that's its only purpose (Creationism-goddesses' idea)

Formed later on in Hylian evolution as defensive mechanism—but for what? Predators? Hylians were losing too much blood? Or infections? Were they getting infected too easily? Is there, perhaps, an airborne bacteria that threatens Hylian life? (Evolution-natural selection) or was it just so they didn't lose blood?

There is no Hylian blood for some reason:

Nutrients are "magically" transported throughout the body (But then why is there a selura?)

Some sort of diffusion of nutrients/oxygen takes place?

She picked up a book of essays and began skimming through them to see if any scientist or person had thought of any useful hypotheses or theories.

She was just writing a last note when she heard a sound. Her back was to the entrance of the library, so she turned to see who it was.

Zelda was walking toward her. She smiled.

"Meghan, did you find everything that you needed?"

"Yeah, I found all the books I needed. The answers that I wanted, however, are still to be found."

"What is it that you need?" She sat in a chair across Meghan.

"Well, I found this selura organ, which secretes the seluric material. But nothing speaks of how oxygen and nutrients are transported! It bugs me like crazy. Is it that there is nothing? Is it magic? Or maybe…it hasn't been discovered?"

"To tell you the truth, I am quite the science person myself. And throughout the years I spent…in hiding…I had a lot of time to think of these things. Nutrients, oxygen, seluric material, none of it adds up. I tried to do several experiments, but I couldn't do much. And our respiration, you mentioned something about that a while ago, is aerobic just as a human's. Yet in order for it to takes place, there must be oxygen just as you said. But nothing has come up. Believe me, these things I have pondered as well."

"I wish I could carry out experiments. I really have a problem not knowing all the things about myself, if I am what you are now. And my hypothesis is that you guys do have blood. You've just never seen it because the seluric material acts as super-fast acting platelets. I need to carry out experiments, though. And I'd do them on myself, but…"

"There are several scientists in Hyrule. I'm sure that I'd be able to recruit some of them so you can all converge on your theories and experiment."

"That'd be wonderful!" But she thought, _it's probably a bunch of old guys with Einstein-like afros and gray hair and wrinkles._

"In fact, do you remember Sheftali?"

"Yes, Devan and Dia's mom, right?"

"Correct. She is our leading biologist."

"Are you serious?" Meghan's jaw dropped.

"Yes, quite so."

"I'd LOVE to talk to her! Oh my gosh! That'd be great."

"I'll talk to her next time I see her."

"Thanks so much!" Meghan was excited. Biology, her favorite subject ever! And this lady she knew was an expert? Rock on!

"Of course. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Would you like to join Luke and I for lunch?"

"Of course!"

"Great. If you would like, I'll have someone bring those books to your room."

"Ok…"

"All right, then. What would you like to eat?"

LATER

"Thanks, Zelda. Thank you Luke. That was really good."

"I agree," Luke said.

"I'm going to back to my room. I'll be there."

"All right, Meghan, I'll talk to you later. I'll be having dinner at six if you want to join me. If not, there'll be food anyway in the kitchen."

"OK."

As Meghan walked out of the dining hall, she sighed. She felt like she was being taken care of like back home. She didn't really like it. But Zelda was too nice to tell not to take care of her. It would seem snobbish to tell her to stop being so nice.

She opened her door and spotted the books on her desk, the note carefully inserted between the front page and cover of one of the books.

She slumped onto the couch for a second. She tried not to let Link into her mind, but his lovable, flawless face stared at her, smiling, laughing. And she thought he was alone too. But she was sure he wasn't crying to being upset. But it was hard being alone.

All of a sudden she felt scared. She was alone for a few days. A sense of security faded and suddenly she felt exposed. No one was there at her side for her exclusively. If anything happened, if anyone came…

No. She refused to let herself think she was unsafe. And if so, she was strong enough to fight it, wasn't she?

But what if that horrible person tried to hurt her again?

No, who was she to cheat death?

But Link…she had to see him again, of course. She was there for him. She was alive for him. She was alive because of him.

She stood up quickly. She'd forget these things. All was well and she knew it.

She wanted to talk to somebody. Someone her age that would understand. She didn't feel like talking to Zelda, she was too mature. She needed to unwind. She thought of all her friends. Who could she talk to?

Malon, Saria, Kazana, Galaxy…

She only thought of Link, who was like her Siamese twin detached at birth and sent into a different dimension. Or maybe she was the one sent to a different dimension. He was like her, silly when necessary, serious when needed. She needed silliness right now, but that wasn't happening.

She decided to just go for a walk.

She went to Lon Lon to get Galaxy.

"GalGal, my baby horsy, you're so adorable," she said in baby talk. Galaxy was in the paddock, eating grass when she came. She slid the halter with the lead rope over his head and brought him back to the stables, where she got his tack and put his saddle and bridle on.

"Galaxy, do you know where Unicorn Fountain is?" He shook his head and snorted. "I'll show you, then." She mounted and led him out of Lon Lon ranch.

"Well," she said as she led Galaxy out in the field, "I told Epona we would keep it a secret, but I'm sure she won't mind if you know. I'm sure you won't tell anybody. OK? Don't tell your horse friends."

They reached the forest. Galaxy slowed, noticing all the trees.

"It's OK, boy." She guided him to where the faint path was. He was a bit hesitant, but he grew more confident as they walked through the trees. She tried to follow Epona's footsteps, which were faintly seen in the mud.

They came to the cave. Meghan dismounted. She led Galaxy into the cave after taking a brief glance around. All she saw were trees.

It was dark and she felt Galaxy panicking slightly, but soon he saw the light ahead and calmed.

Then, as they emerged in the fountain area, he seemed to be perfectly fine. He looked around and sniffed. Then finally he let out a snort of approval. He walked to the water and gave it a sniff too, then drank some.

"There must be something utterly irresistible in the water. The horses seem to like it a lot." Galaxy breathed into the water, then lifted his head, dripping. "Aaw, I love you, my little horse!" He looked adorable in that position.

Being at the Unicorn Fountain relaxed her. She could watch the water flowing, or the beautiful walls reflecting the water. On the ledge of the fountain where she had sat before, she lay down. It was wide enough for her to fit.

She stared at the ceiling, resting her hands on her stomach.

"Galaxy, it's not really fair. He left me. I mean, I know he didn't LEAVE ME leave me, but he's not here. He's always here." She closed her eyes. "I can always go to him. It's just weird that I grew so used to his presence that I'm suffering withdrawal, basically." She let her arm fall over the ledge into the water. It was cool, but not too cool. She felt the urge to swim, but didn't want her clothes to get wet.

She sat up. "Galaxy, would you be deeply offended if I swam in your drinking water?" Galaxy snorted, then tossed his head. "Thank you."

She took off her shoes, then stood and unbuttoned her pants.

"I do hope no one knows about this place for real." She slid off her shirt, leaving nothing but underclothes and her necklaces.

Normally, she would never think of doing anything so risky, but she loved her new body so much she didn't really care if anybody saw her. She felt like a model. And also, the place was a divine secret between her and the horses. And she didn't spill to anyone. And she didn't care if another horse came in.

She slowly slid into the water, savoring the coolness. It felt wonderful. It also was surprisingly deep. The water came up to her chest. She took a breath and ducked her head under.

She could open her eyes under the water. It was clear and perfect, beautiful. She surfaced and looked at Galaxy.

"Mm…I wish you could enjoy this." She went to the wall and leaned her back against it, sinking into the water up to her neck.

She thought of Link yet again. What if, by strange chance, he happened to come here suddenly? She thought that maybe Sierace had cancelled and he came back? Maybe he decided not to go? She knew it didn't make sense, but she didn't care. She imagined that Epona had brought him here, and the secret was exposed, but she didn't care because he was back.

She imagined herself where she was, with her back to the entrance. He would come up to her, silent as always, and gently touch her on the shoulder. She would be surprised and jump up, but it was just he. She'd smile and hug him. He'd be surprised—after all, she was wearing almost nothing. But she wouldn't care—what's the difference between this and a bikini? Not much.

She closed her eyes, letting her mind wander to places she'd been afraid to let it go before. It was as though he could read her mind and she didn't want him to know anything she was thinking so she never really thought anything beyond the realm of "good little human girl."

Now, though, she felt as though she were free. She'd felt free for a while now, but she realized there was no one in her thoughts, unless Link somehow had managed hide the ability to read minds from her. Which, she had to admit, wasn't entirely impossible. But extremely unlikely.

She stopped herself before she damaged her own brain. She opened her eyes and swam to the unicorn heads.

Each one was carved beautifully from some marble-like stone, detailed to the very skin texture. They looked like real horse heads, save for the pointy horns protruding from the center of their foreheads and the lack of coloring. Their eyes were white, as though staring into space without resolve.

She reached up and touched the face of one, stroking its cheek as though it were a real horse. It was cold and hard, unlike a horse. There was no love in their form. They were just statues.

She was disappointed. She didn't expect anything, really. They WERE just statues, but she couldn't help but feel rejected. By a statue.

She resumed her earlier position against the wall. She realized she was just being moody. She needed to relax badly. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Before she knew it, she had sunk down to where the water reached her mouth. She opened it and let some water in. It tasted OK. But she knew better than to drink random water. Especially in Hyrule.

She lifted herself out of the water, ringing her hair out. She didn't have a towel or anything to dry herself with and she didn't want her clothes wet so she lay on the ledge again, one leg bent and the other out straight. One hand rested on her stomach and the other on her forehead, sending droplets of water down her face.

Then she remembered something. She traced her hand over her ribcage, searching for the extra bones and irregular shape. Sure enough, her sternum seemed to extend farther down and the bottom ribs didn't go up so much making a curvaceous shape instead of an angular shape. She was excited and tried to see if she could count her ribs but she kept messing up. She stopped after a few tries.

She looked at her stomach. The scar was still there…that one that Ganon had inflicted upon her with his evil blade. She felt it. It was smooth, but clearly visible in a pearly-white line. It spread about six inches across her stomach just over her navel. She sighed because it was probably going to be there forever.

Meghan waited there until she was dry. She heard Galaxy sniffing. Other than the sound he made, though, it was silent in the cave. When he took a step, it echoed loudly throughout the cave several times until it had faded into nothing.

When she was mostly dry, she sat up. She finger combed her hair, which was surprisingly easy. Her hair was still wet. She put her clothes back on and took Galaxy's reins, leading him out of the cave.

She sky was cloudy and it was dark. It looked like it was going to rain. She got on Galaxy and rode out of the forest. Ironically, after she had taken so much effort to make sure she didn't get her clothes wet, it soon began to rain.

"Oh no, Galaxy! I got all naked for nothing," she laughed. The rain became heavier and it was uncomfortable to ride in so she dismounted. She didn't want to have Galaxy get too wet though so she decided it was easier to bring him to the castle rather than go across the field to Lon Lon again.

She led him as fast as she could walk to the entrance of Hyrule castle town. She heard a sound and stopped, looking behind her.

A person on a light brown horse was galloping her way. She stopped, thinking it might be someone she knew. She knew a lot of people here. She was thirty or so feet from the drawbridge into Hyrule Castle Town. As he grew closer, she realized she didn't know the person. So she pretended to be worried about Galaxy, petting his head. She looked him in the eye and he seemed to get it. He backed up and nickered, acting like a nervous horse might.

"Good boy, Galaxy." The person was very close to her now. He slowed, and then stopped a little bit away.

She pretended not to notice, and continued to pretend trying to calm Galaxy down.

"Having trouble?" said a deep voice in an almost bored tone, yet slightly haughtily. She turned and looked at him, giving a small smile. He seemed sorta nice…

"No, I'm fine, thank you." She turned back to Galaxy, who immediately calmed down on queue. She expected to hear him get back on the horse, but she heard nothing of the sort. Instead she heard light footsteps coming toward her. She went to Galaxy's side and stopped there, about to get on. She faced him. He was close to her, yet not too close. "Have a good day," she said quietly and put her hands on Galaxy's saddle to pull herself on, but she didn't expect what happened next.

He grabbed her arm and pulled it away from Galaxy. She gasped, not sure what was going on.

"What?" she asked irritably. He smiled and pushed her to the ground with such force that she hit her head. He pulled out a sword and lifted it to a striking position. She rolled over and got up in one movement. He turned to her. "Who are you and what are you doing?"

"They call me Rilba. I'm here under Shina's orders to assassinate either you, that Link kid, or Princess Zelda. And you just happened to be here so I'll start with you."

"Well you can tell Shina he can kiss our asses because Link will kick yours." She pretended that Link was still around so maybe he would go away…maybe.

"I have no idea what you're talking about but Shina said you were feisty."

"How did you even talk to Shina?"

"A long time ago."

"That doesn't answer how."

"I don't care." He attempted to hit her. She jumped back. What should she do? She had no weapons and if she tried to run he would probably pursue her. Maybe she could get on Galaxy quickly and go somewhere safe.

"You can't touch me because Link will be back in a few minutes—" she gasped as he swung madly at her again and again. The tip of the blade cut her arm. She recoiled. The rain dripped down her face and limited visibility.

"Galaxy!" she called, running away, shoes sloshing in the mud. She heard him following her. She looked and saw him a few feet behind. Galaxy followed her and stopped a bit to the side. She tried to get to him but when she paused to mount, he caught her by her hair. She yelped and he pulled her back to face him. She clawed at his face with her nails. He snarled and let go, but swung yet again with his sword. She dodged it and noticed Galaxy coming closer. Galaxy made a shrill sound and reared, kicking Rilba. He didn't fall but lost balance, and in attempt to stay balanced, hit Galaxy in the leg with his sword. Galaxy shrieked.

"No! You idiot!" she yelled. She kicked him, her foot hitting his chest and knocking him slightly backward again.

But she knew she shouldn't have done that. He caught her foot at the last moment and pulled her so she would fall. The sword cut her cheek. Her head snapped backward as an involuntary response, and when she landed on the floor she hit it hard. She winced, but tried to kick him with the leg he still held. He didn't let go. She turned over and tried to crawl away. He pulled her back. She flipped over to face him, trying to get up. He punched her in the face, sending searing pain through to her mouth.

"This was too easy." _No,_ she thought, _I just didn't have my sword…_She thought of other things she could do quickly because he didn't look like he was going to let her leave in one piece.

Suddenly, her adrenaline rushing, she remembered what she could do. Her last defense…her last hope. Her anger all centered in her body as she screamed at him, right palm facing his face,

"FURY BLAST!"

A ball of white-hot anger flew from her and hit him directly in the chest. He fell backward. He looked unconscious.

She was surprised. Maybe it was because of her transformation, but the attack was easily two times bigger than the most powerful one she had ever mustered. She was also two times more tired afterward. She lay for a few seconds, catching her breath and waiting for the pain to pass. But she forced herself to sit up when she remembered Galaxy's injury.

"Galaxy…" she breathed, crawling the few feet to him. The mud was everywhere…in her hair, on her clothes… He was nursing his wound. "Baby…" It was red but the constant rain washed away the blood as soon as it came out. Meghan was on her knees next to him. She touched around the wound and he snorted, taking a step back. "I'm sorry…"

He looked her in the eye. She fell back, sitting on her feet, the rain washing everything away. It was slightly cold and she was soaked. Her eyes started to water.

"Galaxy, are you OK?" she choked out. It thundered in the distance. From the corner of her eye she saw the other horse, panicking from the loud noise. It started to run off. But she didn't care.

Galaxy still looked at her. The finally he moved back to her, kneeling onto the ground next to her.

"Galaxy?" she asked. She knew what he wanted to do, but she didn't want to hurt him. His eyes stared at her as he whinnied long and loud. She smiled. "Thank you…" She moved and put herself on his back. He straightened his legs and stood as if waiting for something.

"Galaxy…go through Hyrule Castle town into the castle…it's the way…" She nudged the reins. He followed. She slouched forward, practically lying down even though it was uncomfortable.

Galaxy trotted to the drawbridge. She was glad it hadn't closed. She had no idea what time it was. She closed her eyes and felt his steps but didn't know exactly where they were. After a minute or two, she heard voices.

"What is that?"

"Look! It's Meghan!"

"Help her! What happened?"

"Meghan, what happened?"

"Hey, horse! Stop! Whoa!" But Galaxy kept going. She didn't know where to. She didn't look. But she noticed the rain stop pounding at her back. Voices still followed her.

"Get her down and bring her to Zelda!"

"Somebody go get Zelda!" She heard lots of footsteps, clinking and chatter. She kept her eyes closed. She didn't feel like opening them.

"Meghan, are you awake?" somebody asked. She didn't answer. She didn't feel like it. Galaxy kept moving.

"The horse won't let us help her down!"

"Hold him still." Galaxy whinnied and moved to a different spot, stepping nervously.

_Maybe he's afraid…_she thought. She sighed, and then heard more commotion. It was far away, but it was coming closer. She waited for it.

"This way!" a voice said.

"Meghan!" she heard a first girl voice say.

_Oh, Zelda! Hi…_

"Meghan, what happened?" Zelda was close. She was next to Galaxy… "Luke, can you help her down?"

"Yeah." She felt some hands on her and she was pulled from Galaxy. Galaxy actually stood still. The arms were strong and supportive but not the ones she wanted. She was gently put on a stone floor, someone still supporting her head.

"Meghan, look at me," Zelda gently said.

"She's conscious?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "Meghan, open your eyes and tell me what happened." Meghan shook her head gently. Zelda touched her hand. "Meghan, please. I need to know."

Meghan opened her eyes slowly, looking at her location. She was in an area in the front of the castle that had something like a roof over it, so that was why she didn't feel the rain. There were a lot of guards around her, watching.

Zelda looked at Luke, who was still holding her head, and he said in an authoritative voice,

"You're dismissed." He looked at the guards around and they looked at each other, slowly dispersing. She heard the clinking of the rain on their metal armor. "Except you, bring the head of the stables."

"Meghan, please, you need to tell me what happened," she said firmly as she busily took off her gloves. Meghan's eyes drooped.

"I'm tired…" she said in a slurred voice, her eyes closing then opening slowly.

"Why are you tired, sweetie?"

"I don't know…" she said sleepily.

"Meghan, please try to remember for me." Zelda held her hand over Meghan's chest, a reddish glow coming from her hands.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just tell me. Why are you tired? What did you do?"

"I got angry."

"Why were you angry?"

"I don't know…he made me angry."

"Who made you angry?"

"Him."

"Who is he?"

"That person, you know."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know. Was it Link? Did he make you angry?"

"No. No, he didn't. He made me angry."

"He did or he didn't?"

"Not him, him."

"Who is he?"

"Um…Galaxy."

"Galaxy? Your horse?"

"No! Galaxy is hurt!"

"We'll help him in a few seconds. Tell me why you're angry."

"Rilba."

"Is that a person?" Zelda wasn't sure if she was just making things up.

"Yes, it's him."

"Who is Rilba?"

Meghan's eyes stopped drooping. "Assassinate," she said clearly.

"Assassinate?" Zelda's eyes grew wide. She increased the intensity of the magic coming from her hands.

"Yeah…assassin."

"He's an assassin?"

"Yes. He is."

"Did he try to hurt you?"

"Yeah." Meghan felt clearheaded suddenly. She attempted to sit up, Luke helping her. Zelda pulled back her hands, and they faded back to a normal color. Meghan felt slightly lightheaded.

"Did he say why? I need to know exactly what happened."

"I was…out in the field…it started to rain. I saw him coming and I was off Galaxy because of the rain. He stopped and asked me if I was having trouble with Galaxy. I told him no but when I tried to get on Galaxy he pushed me on the ground. I…think I got up and he…told me that…he worked…for Shina or something. He was supposed to assassinate you or me, or Link. He attacked me with a sword and I wasn't armed. I tried to get away, but he kept pursuing me and wouldn't let me get on Galaxy. And then Galaxy tried to protect me when he pushed me to the ground, but he hurt Galaxy on his front right leg…and that made me angry."

"What else did he do to you?"

"Well, he never hurt me seriously I guess but he meant to."

"But it doesn't match up. Why are you this tired out?"

"Oh, I used the Fury Blast."

"Oh…yes. That explains it."

"It was huge. I've never made one that huge before."

"All right." Zelda was shaken. Another follower? How could it be? "Where did he go?"

"Well, after I hit him he was knocked out. I don't know. I was too tired to care what happened. Galaxy completely brought me here on his own. He's extremely intelligent."

"Yes. He was still unconscious when you left?"

"I believe so."

"Luke, can you put together a troop to see if he's still there? If he is, bring him and put him in the dungeon."

"Of course."

"Meghan, can you stand?"

"I think so…"

Zelda and Luke helped her up. She blinked a few times, regaining herself.

"Luke, get right on that."

"Yeah." He ran the other way.

"Meghan, maybe you should rest."

"No, I can't."

"You'll have to. You're very worn out. I only gave you a little energy that might run out soon. Please…"

"I can't," she repeated.

"Will you at least come inside and sit with me?"

At that moment, the guard and the head of the stables came.

"What is it that you need, Princess?" he asked.

"This horse, galaxy, is hurt. Kindly clean up and dress his wound, then bring him to Lon Lon Ranch to Malon. She'll take care of him there."

"Yes, I'll do that." He took Galaxy's reins, and he protested slightly, looking back at Meghan.

"Go ahead, gal," she coaxed. He reluctantly followed the man back the other way. When they were gone, Meghan said,

"Zelda, if I had my sword I could have taken him."

"You probably could have."

"It's just not fair that I'm never ready for anything that happens."

"It's OK, Meghan. The important part is that you are fine."

"I'll never be able to sleep again without...someone…"

"Yes you will. Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No, Zelda. I'm not a little girl. But that's the problem. I act like one."

"Meghan, let's just go back to your room. From there we'll worry about everything."

"OK."

They walked slowly to Meghan's room. Meghan collapsed onto the couch, tired but too scared to fall asleep. Zelda sat in a chair, watching her.

_This is horrible. Never again will she feel safe. I'm afraid I can never make her safe. What will I do? I don't know who out there is still on that side…there could be more than I'd ever imagined. This is so horrible._

Meghan stared at the ceiling, unblinking. At the slightest sound she'd turn to look. She was very tense.

"Meghan, do you want anything to eat or drink? I can get you something."

Meghan sat up slowly.

"No, I am thirsty and a bit hungry, but…I don't want you to get anything for me." That wasn't the truth. She just wanted Zelda to stay because she felt safe with her. Zelda could see that.

"Meghan, you'll be fine if I leave for a few minutes. I promise. The kitchen is only a few halls down, remember? It'll only take a few minutes, I promise."

"I'll come with you, then."

"No, you lay here. Rest, you really need to."

"I can't, though." She stared at Zelda, and Zelda looked back.

"I'll be right back." She stood.

"No!" Meghan cried, standing too. "Please don't!"

"Meghan, please don't worry. I'll return in a few minutes."

"No! Don't please! No!" She went to Zelda and grabbed her arm. "Please don't leave me here…"

See you in a few minutes…" she gently took of Meghan's hands and went to the door, swiftly. Meghan followed her, but she was already down the hall and turning a corner. Meghan shut the door and locked it, then nervously played with her hair. She paced in the room, looking out the windows whenever she felt something changed. It was too quiet for her. She lit all the candles and sat in the middle of the sofa, looking around the room every few seconds. She stood and paced, going to the bathroom door, and then turning and going back to her bedroom, where she got her sword and put it next to her on the couch.

MEANWHILE…

Zelda walked into the back door of the kitchen. She found her favorite cook, the one who had been working there since she was a child, sitting at a table and reading. The cook, Granice, was a person she could trust with all her heart since she was little.

"Granice, I need something."

"Oh, hi, Zelda!" she said bouncily.

"Granice, do you have sleeping potion?" she asked quickly.

"Yes, Zelda, but why?" Granice stood. Zelda explained very quickly the story, but left out a lot of details.

"I need to hurry."

"Yes."

"So if you can bring me what's left from dinner and a pitcher of water, then that'll be wonderful. And the potion."

"Yes." Granice quickly got what she needed and put the food on a tray with a pitcher of water and a glass. "How much potion?"

"Enough to quickly put her to sleep, but not until she's finished eating. She needs nourishment."

"Of course." Granice added a few drops of potion to the water and then stirred it. Zelda took the tray and thanked Granice.

"Thank you. I'll come back later but now I must go."

"Good luck with that, Zeld."

"Yeah…"

Zelda quickly went back to Meghan's room. When she opened the door, Meghan flinched very badly so that she actually stood and drew the sword in her hand. She shook, but then relaxed slightly.

"Meghan, it's fine. It's just me." Zelda put down the tray on the coffee table.

"Thank you…Zelda…" Meghan looked at the food greedily, but composed herself. She poured some water then downed the whole glass, then picked up her fork and ate the tasty meal made of vegetables down to the last crumb. She drank more water.

"There," Zelda said, smiling. "Now, if you won't sleep, that'll at least give you more energy."

"OK." Meghan sat back on the couch.

"Meghan, if you won't sleep, won't you at least lie down? You don't have to close your eyes or anything, but it's better than sitting there as rigid as a board. Don't worry, I'll be here with you."

Meghan hesitated, but lay down despite it all.

"Thank you. Now, talk to me. Get your mind off everything. What do you feel like doing tomorrow?"

"I don't know…maybe…" she paused to think, but her eyes drooped. She couldn't think straight again. She fought it, but to no use. "Maybe…" she started slowly, but she fell asleep. Zelda sighed.

"I'm sorry, Meghan." Zelda went into Meghan's room and got a blanket, then covered Meghan with it. She breathed deeply in her artificial sleep. "You've had the worst day."

**Thanks, I hope you enjoyed, and special, special thanks to my two friends who know nothing about Zelda but read this story because they rock! So thanks my CHG _L_ _double_ _A_ girls. (Lol, you know who you two are!) Paw and Fish. Lol, my late-night snackers and chatters. **


	68. When Will We Stop Falling?

Luke found Zelda in the throne room, the last place he'd expect.

"Zelda, we found him," he said quickly. Zelda didn't respond. She was standing in front of the King's throne, which was actually hers, the princess's now. She didn't turn. Luke was at the other side of the room, so he went closer. Maybe she hadn't heard.

"Zelda—" he began, but stopped. She was shaking. He went closer. He heard small sounds coming from her. He realized that she was crying. "Zelda!" he said worriedly.

"No…it's not real! We fought for everything, everything! And it did nothing! He may be dead but he still lives in people. They'll never stop until we've all died! They'll kill us all! We were foolish to even try! We didn't do anything! Nothing!" she screamed hysterically, looking at the wall.

"Zelda! Calm down!" Luke said, touching her arm. She didn't stop.

"We're worthless stupid idiots! Everything is like a game! It's nothing! We're worse than anything and not worth anything! I can't do anything right! It's all my fault…"

"Zelda! Stop it now!" he said firmly. She stopped talking and fell to the ground, her head on her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. "Zelda, there's nothing you did wrong! All fault is in the hands of the idiots who have done things to Hyrule and us. It has absolutely nothing to do with you. And your noble changes to Hyrule were not in vain! Look, everyone lives happily now. They can travel Hyrule and not be afraid! Zelda, you, Link, and Meghan saved everyone. They can be free now. They can be free! But you can never completely rid the world of evil, you know that. It's impossible."

"Luke…" Zelda sighed, her sobs ceasing, slowly. His tone had been firm, not quite aggressive, but enough to make sure she got the message. She had, and she realized. "I'm sorry, it was just in the wake of the moment I just became so upset…I feel terrible for Meghan. She feels so unsafe, and so do I. I fear can't really do anything for her either, at least not until Link returns. The only way I could relax her was with sleep. I fear she expended too much energy…but she refused to rest vehemently. So I gave her a little sleeping potion…I know I probably shouldn't have. I shouldn't do things like that…"

"It's fine, Zelda. She won't mind—"

"Yes she will! I fear—"

"No, she won't care."

"I hope not."

"She won't," he said finally. Zelda straightened. Then she laughed, her face tear-stained and bits of hair loose,

"I'm so terrible at making decisions. How foolish I am."

"Zelda, you are without doubt the wisest person in Hyrule. You always have been. I don't think you can make a mistake."

"Thank you, Luke. You make me feel very good." She pushed her hair back. "I must look awful."

"No, no, not at all." He smiled warmly and wiped some of her tears, appreciating the beauty that she held even now.

"I almost forgot! What happened when you went out there?"

"Oh…Zelda. We found him, but…perhaps it was fortunate but he wasn't…" He struggled with his words for a few seconds. "…He wasn't… living …"

"He…died?" Zelda was shocked.

"I'd say that…Meghan…killed him. It was unlike anything I'd seen before…his death, I mean…"

"Oh, you mustn't tell Meghan! Please, there must be some way she can be saved from that horrible truth…"

"Zelda, that's very hard to do. I mean, murderer or not, he's still dead. I mean, she won't get in trouble at all, she was defending herself from him, and he would have killed _her_, had he the chance, but we can't just discard the body. He could have family. Hopefully family who knew nothing of his…job."

"This is horrible. I know Meghan, she could never live with herself if she knew…she did that."

"At the same time, you must let her know that he can never harm her again."

"What excuse should I make? I don't like telling untruths."

"Tell her that he was found with his own sword in himself. Suicide."

"Suicide? What reason would he have for that?"

"He failed. I don't know who or what he worked for, if anybody, and that we should ask Meghan, but it's not unfeasible that perhaps this was the way he was trained…failure is death?"

"All right, that I will tell her. But I don't want to ask her anymore questions too soon."

"And Zelda, I have an idea for you. Meghan is afraid of being attacked again, correct?"

LATER

She couldn't remember how she fell asleep, but sometime in the night she woke. The clock said it was 1:30. She gasped and stood up.

"Zelda!" she cried, looking around the room. "No, you said you'd stay!"

Meghan was frantic. She looked around the room. It was dark, what if someone was there?

She lit the candles. She looked around the room. Behind the curtains, under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, everywhere. There was no one.

It was very quiet. She wished terribly that she had a CD player to blast to break the silence. But there was nothing here. She wanted to scream. She really missed her music.

Evanescence, AFI, Muse, My Chemical Romance, Dashboard Confessional, 30 Seconds to Mars, From First to Last, From Autumn to Ashes…all her favorites. She thought of all her favorite songs.

She began to sing some songs. It calmed her down slightly because it took her mind off things as she tried to remember all the words.

She chanted the screaming part on an AFI song, "Death of Seasons" She loved that song beyond belief.

She imagined the ending string part and nearly cried. The song always made her emotional because it was just so darn good, but now it was positively beautiful beyond doubt. Then she thought of another song. It fit her.

What a song! How it fit her perfectly. "The Great Disappointment" by AFI. In fact, she just thought the whole album was made for her especially. It was titled "Sing the Sorrow." How so very fitting!

She began to sing all the songs except a few. She even recited the hidden track poem, at least the parts she remembered.

She was calmed. She didn't feel like going to sleep yet, but she changed and sat in her bed. Then she went to her desk and took a piece of paper and a quill. Dipped in ink, she scribbled in her neatest handwriting a poem. She didn't know where it came from, but she wrote it. It seemed to flow from her hand.

_Sitting atop this mountain,_

_Tears falling to the cold stones below._

_No more weight can be taken, _

_As the stones crumbles to the water down low._

_Falling, these spirits are shaken,_

_Wondering what will happen to them,_

_The cruel unforgiving gravity is making,_

_All of them, wonder when…_

_They will touch._

_They can't escape,_

_She sits, forlorn_

_Waiting for him to come… _

_She is nothing more…_

_When will we stop falling? _

_Oh, don't stop…_

_It hurts…_

_…It'll hurt…_

_Sit still, with minutes and hours,_

_Nothing but nothing has been made,_

_Splashing into the deepest waters,_

_Wishing they weren't so afraid…_

_Spirits, you have nothing worth it here,_

_That's why you had to be let go,_

_I see you falling from mountains,_

_Then look up and see her, and know…_

_It will touch._

_They can't escape,_

_She sits, forlorn_

_Waiting for him to come… _

_She is nothing more…_

_When will we stop falling? _

_Oh, don't stop…_

_It hurts…_

_…It'll hurt…_

_Finally, they stop falling,_

_Tears start to sting in my eyes,_

_For now I know this isn't morning,_

_And she been told nothing but lies…_

_Crystal clears waves are spraying,_

_She just looks down below,_

_Nothing is worth staying for,_

_Nothing is left here to show…_

(Copyright 2006 Aberrant Bliss)

She was happy with her work and she stuffed it in the top right drawer.

She looked back at the clock. Only 2:00! How was she supposed to kill all this time in here?

She took out another piece of paper and a pencil. She brought it back to her room along with some wide, flat, Hylian book to write on. Laying on her stomach on the bed, she started sketching.

She wasn't a good artist, but she could at least tell that her drawings were humans (or other beings) of some gender. She didn't know what she was drawing, but soon the face grew pointy ears, and beautiful, big blue eyes. The body soon wore a tunic and a sword along with some loose pants and boots. The hair grew into semi-long wisps of light hair. Sans the hat, though. He had hot hair. She admired the drawing. She wished they had cameras here. Then she could have a picture of him that actually did him justice.

Meghan decided to read something. She found the book she started reading about a week ago, Hyrule at a Glance. She had never finished it, so she decided to.

It took a few more hours to do that. It was around five and she needed to kill more time. She got up from lying in her bed, and went over to her desk. The flower that Saria and the Kokiri gave her was closed, asleep. Just as she should have been. She touched it. It seemed so fragile, but when it was open, it was breathtaking and looked so fake, it was so beautiful. Thinking about Saria and her birthday, she remembered the book Impa gave her. She found that in the second drawer in her desk on the right. It looked very interesting. She took that to her room.

She read until the sun started coming up. She could see the little lights coming through the curtains.1 It was 6:30. She yawned and continued reading. Her back was stiff from sitting in the same position forever, but she dared not move to her stomach. Somebody could sneak up behind her! It was horrible. So she stayed where she was and continued reading. Soon though she became restless and she got up. She was hungry, but she didn't want to leave. She guessed Zelda had taken the food away that she had last night. That was the last thing she remembered doing last night--eating the dinner Zelda brought her.

She realized what must have happened. Someone drugged the food! Would Zelda have done it? No. She wouldn't have. Zelda was her friend! But why wouldn't Zelda have stayed with her or something? But she decided it couldn't have been Zelda, no matter what her logic told her. She became convinced that someone else did it. What if Rilba had waken up and gotten in the castle and attempted to poison her? Or put her to sleep so he could easily kill her? She started getting nervous. She was standing in the doorway between her room and the living room. She looked nervously around, and went to the corner of the living room. From there she could see the whole room. With her sword, she sat against the wall. Then she started crying. She tried hard to calm down. She tried to be as silent as possible. She couldn't.

Eventually, she just couldn't keep crying. She became angry. Stupid people! Everybody was so stupid. No one understood anything. They all were so stupid. Especially Link and Zelda. She decided to give Zelda the silent treatment, even though she felt bad about being in the castle when Zelda had been so nice to her before. She promised herself she would be angry with them. So even she knew that she'd never been that successful about ignoring anyone. She always either forgot she wasn't talking to them or felt bad about it. Or maybe she would change her mind by the time she saw Zelda.

Time passed by. She thought about the same things, each thought bringing more thoughts but eventually, she forgot her rage.

The time was 8:00. She decided that it was a good time to get up, but she still didn't want to leave her room. She paced, deciding whether or not it was safe enough to take a trip to the library. Then she went to get changed into her clothes.

She put on tan pants and a dark green shirt. She tied her hair in a ponytail.

The sun shone earnestly from behind the drawn curtains, begging to be let in. She hesitantly opened the curtain on the window near her desk. The brightness came in. She squinted for a second.

Without the uncertainty of nighttime darkness, she felt a little better about leaving her room. She decided to wait a bit longer, until she was sure that the castle was busy and full of people, until she would leave. Then she would only go to the library and there she would sit in some corner. Or something.

After a half hour of pure boredom, she couldn't wait any longer. She felt anxious and scared, but she got the sword and her knife and she felt somewhat safe.

She went to the door to leave. But as she opened it, she nearly screamed. There was a person standing there.

But she stopped herself just in time, seeing Zelda. Zelda had a lovely "good morning" smile on her face. She was very good at keeping her façade as pleasant and worry-free as possible. Meghan didn't need to be worrying.

"Good morning, Meghan," Zelda said cheerfully. Meghan smiled uncertainly, because she had noticed what Zelda had in her hand. Well, sorta in her hand.

"Good morning. Who is this?"

For Zelda held a leather leash, attached to a rather large dog at her side that looked somewhat like a Mastiff.

"This is Liam. Luke came up with this wonderful idea. Liam is a watchdog. We got him from a dog trainer in Kakariko. Luke and I thought that maybe you would feel more comfortable with a dog trained such as Liam."

"Wow…um, he's huge." Liam came up to her waist. His massive head was even with her stomach.

"Do you like the idea? Liam is all yours if you do."

"Yes, I do. How does…he work?"

"Simple. All we need to do is make sure he knows it's you he must protect. Liam, this is your owner." She gave her the leash. "Liam, this is who you need to protect." Liam went to Meghan's side and sat obediently. He was even taller when he sat. "Liam, who is your owner?"

Liam turned to Meghan, looked at her, and barked once. Meghan jumped.

"Yeah, that would scare me."

"When a stranger comes close, he will bark to get your attention. If you don't tell him 'friend,' he will make sure they don't get to you. He won't harm anyone if he doesn't have to, but scare him or her off, hopefully. But if ever you need him to harm someone, just say the a-t-t-a-c-k word."

"OK…"

"But when you're sleeping, he will harm anybody who comes who is not a friend."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I hope you may be able to sleep better, as I assume you didn't sleep well last night at all?"

"Um…not really." She was going to tell Zelda about falling to sleep.

"You did fall asleep when I was there…but I think you woke up. I had to leave because Luke was going to return. I'm sorry."

"It's OK…" Meghan didn't tell her about the horrible night she had, and Zelda didn't either.

"Well, Liam is here to help. I don't know if you want to keep him, but if you want to give him back…maybe when Link returns, that will be fine."

"Oh…" Meghan thought about it. She looked at the dog. He looked at her. She petted him. She liked dogs, but she never really had or touched such a large dog. He looked at her, then licked her hand with a huge, sloppy tongue. "I think I'll keep him." She smiled. He really was _cute_.

"Wonderful. Would you like me to demonstrate his training?"

"OK."

"I'll be right back."

Meghan nodded, but when Zelda was out of sight, she remembered everything she'd forgotten during the conversation. She kneeled down to be level with Liam.

"Looks like you're mine now." He licked her face. "Ew!" She wiped her face and gave him a hug. "I used to have a dog like you, only she was tiny. She was a pug, and they look like you. Only you're like four…or twenty times larger. Her name was Sophie." Liam sniffed her nose. Then he turned suddenly, standing. He looked down the hall, sniffing loudly.

Then she saw Zelda return with Luke. Liam growled softly in his throat. Meghan looked.

Luke came sorta close, then stopped. Liam walked in front of Meghan, growling at full volume. Zelda stayed back. Luke looked confused. That made Meghan laugh.

"Zelda…" he started, but Liam barked. "Zel-" Bark. "Zelda, this guard dog is very well trained," he declared shakily.

"Yes, he is." Zelda was holding back laughter.

"I feel scared."

"You should," Meghan said. She now felt safe because Liam seemed very well suited for the job.

"Is he going to hate me forever now?" Luke asked quietly.

"No…I think I just have to tell him you're a friend."

"Please do so…" Luke looked nervous.

"Liam, friend. This is my friend." Liam relaxed when he heard the word "friend." His growling stopped. He walked over to Luke and sniffed him, then came back to Meghan, sitting at her side.

"All right, that was very scary." Luke walked forward. Liam didn't pay attention. Instead he sniffed the floor and walked back into Meghan's room, sniffing along the floor.

"How old is he?"

"I believe he is two years old. His birthday is August 5th."

"What does he eat?"

"The cooks will be preparing his meals daily. Just go to the kitchen to get his food. In fact, he probably needs his breakfast."

"OK. Liam, let's go to the kitchen." Liam turned around at the sound of his name. "Come." Liam followed. Meghan held the leash loosely.

"I'm glad this works for you, Meghan," Luke said.

"Yes," Zelda agreed.

"It's great." She looked at Liam, already feeling attached. "I love him already. He's such a cute dog."

"That's wonderful."

"See you guys," Meghan said as she closed her door and walked to the kitchen. Luke gave Zelda a reassuring look. She felt better now. Luke and Zelda walked away, hand in hand.

Meghan found the kitchen. Liam didn't growl. Meghan was surprised because she didn't know the cook and thought Liam would guard her at the very least.

"Hello!" greeted the cook, Granice. "You must be Meghan. Zelda told me all about you. We haven't met yet, though. I know Liam from this morning. I'm Granice, head cook." She smiled warmly, wrinkles accenting her round face and gray hair. She was slightly plump and she wore her hair back in a tight bun.

"Nice to meet you. When did you meet Liam?"

"Zelda brought him in here to show me and tell me about his food. I have it made." Granice beckoned toward the counter on Meghan's left, where she saw a large metal bowl filled with brown bits of things.

"What's on the menu?" Meghan asked as she looked into the bowl. It wasn't exactly appetizing, but it didn't look bad. It was like one of those gourmet dog foods at home.

"For him? Cuckoos and rice."

"Wow, OK." Meghan hadn't eaten any meat since she was here, but she supposed that dogs were carnivorous anywhere. You couldn't deny them their food.

Meghan took the bowl and an empty one next to it, for his water, Granice said. They were heavy bowls; easily two times bigger than the ones she had for her other dog Sophie.

"Thank you," Meghan said politely, smiling. She felt she could trust this lady.

"You're very welcome. Now he must be hungry, so run along."

"OK," Meghan laughed. She stacked the water bowl underneath the food bowl, because it was empty. She dropped the leash. "Come, boy. Bye!"

"Good bye."

Meghan went back down the hall, Liam following obediently. Sophie never came when she was told to. She was very stubborn. Liam was not, though.

Meghan let him into her room, and then set the food bowl next to the wall on the door's right. She went into her bathroom to fill the bowl with water. Liam ate the food happily, and then lapped up some water. She couldn't get over how huge he was. She could probably sit on him and he could bring her places like a horse. She laughed at the thought.

He walked over to her, his face dripping with water. She chuckled then wiped the dripping mess off his muzzle with a towel from the bathroom. He jumped onto the couch. Laying down, he took up most of the couch. She had just enough room to sit at the end. He put his head in her lap.

She sighed. He was adorable. But still so menacing. In ways, he reminded her of Link. So gentle most of the time, but so fierce, so powerful when need be. Trained to be that way. She petted him from his head to his back over and over again, his eyes drooping.

After a while, she gently lifted his head from her and told him they needed to go to the library. He got up when she told him to come, and they went there. Liam stayed faithfully by her side as she picked out books and read, some fictional, some containing the necessary things she needed to know about being Hylian.

The day was spent on that, until Meghan remembered she needed to find out if Galaxy was all right. But she was afraid to leave the safety of the castle to go to the ranch. She knew Liam would protect her, but she also feared for him, and there was only so much he could protect her from. He wouldn't know if someone was using a projectile weapon!

She was too scared to go, but she didn't want Galaxy to think that she was abandoning her. She was too confused. She guessed Galaxy would have to wait one more day. She really didn't want to go all the way there…and she wasn't in the mood to search for someone to come with her, because then still she would never be too safe, or feel it anyway.

She sat back down and picked up a book, thinking about Galaxy.

When it grew dark, Meghan still stayed in the library. The candles lit the place just enough so she could read comfortably The little area in the back where the chairs were located was very cozy, and the atmosphere made her forget everything but the book she read and the dog at her feet, whom she petted every once in a while.

Later that evening, she started growing tired. Her eyes drooped as she read the lines of the fictional book she found, which was a romance novel about two lovers who couldn't be together. It reminded her of _Romeo and Juliet_, with much less of the confusing Billy Shakes talk. She loved _Romeo and Juliet_ back home, so this book intrigued her. It was funny how the concept of impossible loves and relationships was universal.

She put the book down on the coffee table in front of her. She would continue to read it another time.

"Come, Liam," she said. Liam got up and walked by her side.

When she was in her pajamas and about to get in her bed (after her daily rituals of throwing the covers and pillows off the bed and onto the floor), Liam dutifully jumped next to her, taking the empty spot on the side other side of her huge bed. Meghan couldn't lie down for a few minutes because she felt anxious suddenly. It was dark again, and that brought along uncertainty. The only light came from the single candle by her bed, and the bit of light from the moon showing through her curtains.

She looked nervously around, not wanting to put out the candle. Liam looked at her. She knew that he wouldn't let anything happen, but still, she feared for him, too. She went to the balcony door and made sure it was locked, then the front door, and finally the door to her room.

Finally she couldn't really keep standing up. She lay down, but kept her eyes open. They swept the room. She kept thinking she saw moving things, shadows, but it was either the flickering candle, or her mind.

Her eyes drooped even more. She opened them, but without her consent, they closed. She tried again. They fell back down. Once more, they opened halfway, but she couldn't keep them open.

She was asleep.

"_Link, you're not here, are you."_

"_No, I'm with Sierace."_

"_What are you doing with Sierace?"_

"_Things. Things. I do things. Don't you like things?"_

"_Of course I do. Things are fun."_

"_I'm glad you agree."_

"_Link…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_We both like things, right?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_So let's do lots of things when you return."_

"_That sounds great."_

"_I love you."_

"_Love you too." _

"_You're the best."_

"_You too."_

"_There's a monkey in my shirt."_

"_There's one in my pants."_

"_Aren't monkeys great?"_

"_They rock."_

"_Rockin' monkeys."_

"_Yay."_

Meghan woke, the strange dream fresh in her mind.

"Whoa…" she said, opening her eyes. She faced the wall with the door to the balcony, the sun shining in. "That was an interesting dream."

She wondered what they were talking about in the dream. Things? Like what? And the monkeys…wait; did Link even say that things rock? She was pretty sure he would think that that meant rock as in rocks that Gorons ate. Unless she had explained that to him. She couldn't remember at the moment.

She realized she didn't have a blanket on. Liam was panting. Suddenly she realized that it was hot.

She felt uncomfortable, like she was sweating. She had to get out of the bed. Liam was immediately alert and jumped down too.

She put on a frilly white tank top, like the one she'd worn to go swimming. She was sure it was for under clothing, but she didn't care. It looked just as good outside. She put on matching white pants.

After she tied her hair in a ponytail again, she touched her ear. It was so long and still a bit alien to her. She wanted to see if it bent over like a human ear. She took the tip in her fingers and bent it over. It amused her.

She looked to see where Liam had gone. He was sitting next to her bed, watching her and panting. She smiled and went to pet him.

"You're so cute!" she baby-talked, petting him on his head and behind his ears, then on his body. He wagged his tail. "Come on…you need to go see people to get acquainted with them. But first, breakfast and visiting Zellie."

Meghan and Liam went to the kitchen, where they greeted Granice and got Meghan and Liam's food. She had gotten up late and everyone else had eaten, so she decided to take the food to her room. Meghan was excited when she saw a huge pancake-like thing on her plate.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Flat cakes, eggs, and an apple. Along with fruit juice."

"Ah. Thanks." Meghan brought her food back to her room and put down Liam's bowl. She sat on the floor near him and ate her own food.

The "flat cake" tasted somewhat like a pancake, but it was sweet. She didn't need syrup for it. On the side of the large pancake were some scrambled eggs. They were vegetarians here, but obviously not vegans. When she'd finished everything on the plate except the apple, she left the plate and her glass on the coffee table. Liam didn't finish all his food, but stopped eating. She took the apple with her as she and Liam went to look for Zelda and/or Luke.

"Hey Liam, can you sniff out Zellie?" He looked at her. "Guess not. I don't have any of her things for you to smell."

They went to Zelda's room and Meghan knocked on the door. Nobody answered. It was hot in the hall. She decided to go look somewhere else…somewhere cooler.

Liam panted as they walked down the halls. Just in case, Meghan peeked in the dining room. The long table was empty. She closed the door and continued down the hall. She made her way to the throne room, even though she was sure no one was there. She went in anyway. The long room, crowned by two tall thrones, one more elaborate than the other and a smaller one, was stuffy and the sun shining brightly in from the stained-glass windows didn't help at all. It was like a greenhouse.

She didn't pay attention to that though. The room was empty, and she and Liam were alone. She practically danced to the other end. Down up up, down up up, waltzing through the room and she twirled across the floor. Liam ran playfully at her side as she stretched her arms in ballet-like positions. She switched to chenné turns as she approached the thrones, stopping abruptly with a smile as she stared up at them. They were raised two steps.

The memories of her days as a ballerina came back. As a child she'd taken ballet, and even up to her freshman year. But then things became complicated at her old studio, and she meant to find a new one, but never did. Still, that was only about a year ago. She'd not forgotten her days _en pointe_. Oh, she longed for that feeling yet again, but she hadn't ever thought of it, she thought, the whole time she was here.

She rélévéd as well as she could in her shoes, raising her right leg to an arabesque position. She'd lost some of her flexibility, but she smiled at she brought her leg back down, pliéing in fifth position. Then she chasséd backwards, jumping into a tourjété. She landed in an arabesque. She smiled. But even though she had only danced for a minute, she felt sweat on her face. She wiped her brow, laughing, and called to Liam on the other side of the room. They left that room.

The only other place she could think of was Luke's office. That was a bit far away from the throne room. She sighed and went down the opposite hall she came from.

After a few minutes, she arrived at the door. She hesitated, but knocked. It was quiet for a second, but then she heard a voice,

"Come in," he said, just like the other times she had come. When she opened the door, his bright green eyes and boyish face greeted her. But even his face, the one she always expected to be filled with buoyancy and energy, was tired looking. He smiled as she walked in, but it was watered down. His normally impeccably neat office looked a tiny bit cluttered. And it was very hot. The window behind his desk was open, but no breeze offered any sort of comfort.

"Hi, Miss Meghan. I scarcely even realized that you were knocking. How are you this fine morning?"

"Hey, Luke, I'm OK. It's very hot though." She let Liam in.

"Would you mind closing the door? Top secret stuff in here," he joked. "I know, the weather is not on our side. But alas. The summer is starting."

"Already? Where I lived summer didn't start until June." It was only may here!

"Really? That's interesting." Meghan didn't feel like standing so she sat in the chair against the wall of stone.

"I feel so bad for you. This room is very hot."

"Well, it's no blissful retreat, but I make do. So, what are you here for? How might I help you?"

"Well, I dunno. I was just bored. I was looking for you and Zelda but I only found you."

"Oh. Zelda went somewhere this morning and I have no idea where. She wouldn't tell me."

"That's…odd."

"Yes, it is, and I worry for her." He sat back in his chair, looking above Meghan's head. "But I cannot stop her." Then he smirked. "She _is_ the princess, after all."

Meghan loved how Luke could always bring the fun into any conversation. Liam had lain on the floor on his side and was panting. Luke looked over his desk at him.

"Poor Liam. He must be hot with that fur," he noted.

"Yeah…"

"You know, I'm just about done here. I really _should_ get out of this heat," his smile brightened, "but, oh, how I love to torture myself."

Meghan laughed and bent down to pat Liam's belly. His tail wagged.

"I should go find Zelda," Luke said. He stood, placing a paper in a drawer of the wooden desk. "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure, but where are you going to look?" Meghan stood, as did Liam.

"I don't know. The town, Kakariko, somewhere. Maybe she's even in the castle."

"OK."

"But she could be anywhere. I don't like when she doesn't tell me where she's going!"

TWENTY MINUTES LATER…

"We've looked everywhere in the castle!" Luke said exasperatedly. "I guess she went out somewhere."

"Yeah." They were walking towards the exit when Meghan started thinking about Link. She wondered if he had gotten there yet.

"Hey Luke," she started.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Link is there by now?"

"Maybe. It depends on how fast he traveled or whether he stopped last night."

"Oh."

"I'm sure he'll be there by the end of the day, though."

She remembered the letter teleporting apparatus. "Do you think he sent a letter?"

"Perhaps."

"I want to go check. You keep looking for Zelda. I'll catch up with you later."

"OK, do you remember where it was?"

"Yeah, I'll go by myself. Go ahead."

"OK…" he grinned. "Be careful," he said seriously, but to make it less tense he added, "don't get run over by Liam."

"OK!" Meghan laughed. They went separate ways.

**OK. Liam was never in my original plans for this story. I meant like at the end of the sequel to get a dog maybe, but never did I expect any of this! I've been trying to stay very close to my original plans, but yeah. I deviated, especially with the whole attacker dude thing. But I guess I couldn't resist. I love mastiffs! They rock and they're like big versions of my puggy sooo it makes me feel happy in Hyrule. Even though I'm not in Hyrule. Gaaah. I'm SUCH a loser. **

**Grr, I can't wait until this stupid story is over until I get to the awesome sequel! Squeal! I think you guys will like the sequel more! I've been writing it more and more and it's soo epic and evil! Ha ha! There should be only one or two more chapter left in this story, depends on how much I type next chapter.**

**This chapter is dedicated to my Kalena, AKA Kazana from back in like chapter twenty-six, I think. She's been my crazy best friend since kindergarten which is like ten years so yeah, that's a crazy best lady! So see ya!**


	69. Your Smell and My Short Shorts

**OK, I lied! I know! I had the urge to finish writing, yet again! And not too long after I told everyone I probably never would. (I seem to contradict myself at every opportunity.) It's been almost exactly a year... (Last updated 8-29-06!)**

**Good news****: I actually finished writing the story!!!! Aren't you all super proud of me? I just have to upload it!**

**Bad news****: These last few chapters probably aren't very good, and they're extremely short. But the sequel (which I think I like better than this first story) shall be better!**

**More bad news****: You probably totally forgot what even ever happened in this story, and rather than go back and read everything, maybe I should explain? (I even had to go back and read it myself!)**

_**Once upon a time, a named Meghan got put into Hyrule because she was a human and humans are destructive creatures. The Human God wanted to wreak havoc in Hyrule, but he thought better of it and only put her in Hyrule for symbolic purposes. She was totally random. But she of course met and Link and the two started being good friends (after a rough start).**_

_**They go to defeat Ganondorf, but during the final battle with Ganon, Meghan is nearly killed. She sees a vision of the goddesses and the Human God discussing what to do with her. She lives, and wakes up a while later in Link's house. Zelda comes to tell them that they have to return the sword or Ganon can come out of being locked within the Sacred Realm. The problem is, returning the sword should bring Link back seven years, but Meghan wasn't there then, so they don't know what will happen to her.**_

_**Zelda gives them seven days, and during this time, they visit all of the sages in their regions of Hyrule. (Death Mountain, Kokiri Forest, Lake Hylia, Gerudo Desert, etc)**_

_**This is when the story actually gets good. She and Link's friendship increases, and they try to endure the constant things people say about the two of them being together. Then, near the end they start realizing themselves that they are indeed in love.**_

_**On the last day, Link finally tells Meghan he loves her, and they kiss and she tells him she loves him too in a fit of tears. They replace the sword…**_

_**They wake up, strewn across the floor of the Temple of Time, and Link notices Meghan's different…she's become a Hylian! They are so happy that they are together and well, and they spend the rest of the day together without worries, and Meghan's outer beauty is finally matched to her outer beauty. (Though Link thought she was beautiful all along!)**_

_**The next day is her birthday, and Zelda and the other celebrate by throwing her a surprise party. Link gives her a horse, Galaxy, for her birthday, along with a beautiful necklace she had her eye on but didn't ask for. She also gets other things. The day is joyful.**_

_**But we know joy can't last…**_

_**That night, the troublesome general of the guards, who they knew was a follower of Ganon, escapes from his prison and attempts to attack Meghan and Link in their sleep. Link wakes at the last moment, and beats the crap out of them, dumping them over the two-story balcony. The next morning Zelda and Luke find them, and arrest them again. Link goes to tell them the story of what happened, and Meghan follows a few minutes later. Luke tells her that she was the one they were targeting. **_

_**And to add to the horror, Link tells Meghan that a diary that she'd found was one of someone who knew his family. He has to go to a remote settlement to meet a named Sierace. But deems it too dangerous for Meghan to go with him, and he goes alone. He is to be gone for nearly a week, and Meghan is devasted that he leaves.**_

_**And on top of that, another follower of Ganon finds her in Hyrule field and attacks her, though she kills him (not on purpose) with her magical attack, the Fury Blast. She is shaken and weakened, and becomes terribly paranoid in Link's absence.**_

_**She spends the next day in fear, and until Zelda and Luke get her a watchdog, Liam, she is shaken too much to go anywhere. Liam gives her some comfort as she tries to live on normally.**_

_**I think that's about where we are, right? XD**_

**Long story, I know. Here you go.**

As soon as Luke was out of sight, Meghan began to run at top speed. Liam galloped at her side. She grew slightly tired of running but didn't stop. Her new body had more endurance, it seemed.

Meghan slammed open the door to the room with the strange apparatus inside. And there it was, waiting for her. A piece of paper folded very neatly.

She hesitantly stuck her hand it, then pulled the note out. Liam barked at it.

"Shush, shush. It's only a piece of paper." She held it out for him to sniff. He growled. She sighed. "Friend, Liam." It must have smelled of Link, or Sierace. Or somebody…maybe she should have waited to tell him it was a friend. He sat back and panted.

She unfolded it, and smiled with relief when she saw some familiar handwriting, in English thankfully.

"_Hello everybody, _

_I just arrived here, around 11:00. I just wanted to say that I am fine and everything is going well here. Sierace has been great so far and I'm learning lots of new things. _

_Meghan, I miss you so much, and I love you so much that words can't really describe it. I hope you know that, and every second I'm thinking about you. I wish you were here with me. I'll be back soon, I promise. This is hard for me too. I really just wish you were here. _

_Zelda and Luke, I hope you're doing well over there. I'll be back in a few days. _

_I plan on leaving tomorrow in the early afternoon. I didn't sleep too much when I traveled here so it took less time, so I'll be back on Saturday. I miss you all a lot, so I can't wait to be back._

_Write back when you have a chance. I want to know what's happening there._

_Link"_

Meghan held the letter close to her, then fingered the ink marks. He had touched the paper! She felt she had a part of him with her.

She ignored the sweat forming on her face as she pulled a piece of paper from the desk against the wall, scribbling her letter back to him, Her handwriting was horrible compared to his, she thought.

"_Link,_

_Hi. I miss you so much too. So much has happened here in the little time you're been gone! I can't believe you've only been gone for like two days. It seems like it's been forever. I really miss you so much, and I not being with you. I love you terribly too. _

_I hope you're ok there. Take your time, but hurry back, OK? I really can't stand this without you! _

_I got a dog while you were gone. How strange! I hope you like dogs, because he's a pretty big one. His name is Liam and he comes up to my waist! He's my watchdog. It's a long story about how I got him though. _

_I love you._

_Meg."_

She read the note over, and then folded it. She threw it in the apparatus and stood back as it disappeared. She didn't think he would respond right away, or maybe not for a while. She sat back down on the chair, then turned and put her head on the desk. Liam panted beside her, but she really didn't pay any attention to him.

_Link was going to get mad when he finds out what happened to me. Maybe I should have kept Liam a secret until he comes, because I really don't want to explain over letters what happened. I need him to be here. But what am I going to do until Saturday?_

She lifted her head, looking over the note he sent, which was grasped in her hand. She heard a sound behind her.

There was a note in the thing!

She ran over and took it out, greedily opening it. She saw his handwriting.

"_Meg,_

_I'm so glad you sent me a letter back. It feels like forever for me, too. I really want to be back there. _

_So what has happened? You said a lot. And the dog? That made me laugh. I would expect you to do something random like that. But why is he a watchdog? Do you feel unsafe? If so, you should tell Zelda or somebody. I don't want you to feel unsafe._

_I love you._

_Link"_

She ran to the desk and scribbled a new letter.

"_Link,_

_I don't know, stuff has happened. But Zelda and Luke know everything, they gave me the dog. He's really very well trained. You should have seen him barking at Luke when he first saw him!! It was very funny._

_Anyway, I'll tell you everything when you get back._

_I'll always love you._

_Meg"_

It seemed like forever until the next letter came. She beginning to think he wouldn't send one. Maybe he went somewhere for a bit? He'd send one later.

Then it came. She sighed with relief.

"_Meghan. I feel like there's something you're not telling me. Please, if anything is wrong over there, I'll come home immediately. Just tell me anything, you know you can. I just get this feeling that something happened. Please tell me."_

She hesitated when she read the letter. She didn't want to tell him now, but…he would get crazy if she didn't tell him. But she didn't want to lie to him, either. Maybe she'd just skip past it. Don't say it either way.

"_Link, there's nothing wrong at the moment. But I'm pretty hungry so I'm going to eat, then I'm bringing Liam around Hyrule to meet people so he won't attack them. Isn't that funny? Anyway, I to leave you but I'm so hungry._

_I love you sooo much more than words could ever say._

_Me"_

**--**

He read her words with fear. He could tell there was something wrong. He didn't know what to do. She had probably left the room.

He was in Sierace's cellar, where the same transporting device as in the castle was. Sierace had gone to the kitchen to cook, leaving him alone. He was panicking.

He wrote another letter in urgent tones, trying to get her to explain to him why she was being so vague and to tell him what was going on. A watchdog? If Zelda gave him to her, she must have done it for a reason.

Suddenly the idea of the attacker from the other day popped into his mind. What if there were more? It was certainly likely. He became extremely fearful, his stomach flipping. She must be OK, if she was sending him that letter, but what if she got injured? He couldn't stand the thought of it. He thought of so many things that could have gone wrong. She could have been writing with broken bones, or no bones! What if she was paralyzed? What if it wasn't even her writing the letters?

He grew so nervous, standing up from his chair and putting his hands on his head. He was so stupid! He wasn't there to protect her. It was his fault entirely if anything happened. She would have been safer coming with him! This place wasn't so bad! And due to his stupidity, what if she had sustained a life-long injury? It would all be his fault! He could have stopped it!

He waited forever, growing more restless by the minute. He finally decided that she wasn't going to send anything back, so he ran back upstairs to find Sierace.

"Oh there you are!" She bent down to pull food out of the fire-heated oven. "You took a long time. I was beginning to think you got sucked into the transporter." She snickered. But his expression was serious.

"I think something happened in Hyrule, to Meghan."

"Oh no!" She set down the food, her expression clearly worried. "I do hope nothing is wrong. Did you talk to someone?"

Sierace had a soft voice that floated on the air, always like a murmur. Her face was soft, but her body was fit like a retired fighter's under her dress.

"Meghan sent me some letters. She didn't say anything exactly, but the way she said things…it made me wonder, and when I asked, she acted like nothing was wrong a little too well, then told me she had to leave."

"Well, I'm sure she would tell you if something happened, correct? Is she that type?"

"No," he said with worry, "No she isn't. She's the type who won't tell me anything because she wouldn't want to worry me.

"But_ that's_ what worries me."

--

She d doing that because she really wanted to talk to him more. It was sorta like an AIM conversation. But she couldn't, because it would be too hard to ignore the subject.

She tossed the letter in and waited a few seconds, watching the blue part, but she knew she shouldn't stay. She should at least go so something of truth was said to him. In fact, bringing Liam around wasn't a bad idea. So she would do that.

She called to him, and she left, closing the door behind her. She sighed, she really missed Link. The door slammed behind her, unexpectedly loud. She jumped.

"Liam, we should go see Galaxy," Meghan said in a quiet tone. She hoped Galaxy was all right. Suddenly she felt so bad that she didn't go to see him, even after he was hurt.

When they arrived at Lon Lon, Meghan ran directly to Galaxy's stall. He stood there eating hay.

"Galaxy!" she called softly, but urgently. "Galaxy, I missed you."

He stared at her, stopping his chewing in the middle so a few pieces of hay stuck outside his mouth. He didn't blink.

"Galaxy, what's wrong?"

Galaxy turned away from her and snorted. He continued chewing.

"GalGal, I'm sorry. I know you got hurt, I'm sorry. If it weren't for me being stupid, you wouldn't have. I should have been ready for him; I should have helped you more. I'm so sorry." Galaxy still was turned away. "Galaxy, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be ! You saved my life so thank you. I love you but I'm sorry! You are so important to me, I that you were hurt. Please, please forgive me."

Galaxy turned slightly, looking at her sideways.

"Galaxy, please. I was so scared…I wanted to come see you, but I couldn't. I was scared, and I couldn't."

He turned to face her.

"Please, please forgive me. I messed up, but I'm here now. I'll take care of you from here. Please, let me see your leg?"

He nodded in his way. Meghan slowly opened to door to the stall, stepping toward him. She reached out her arm to where his injury was. It seemed to have healed a lot, but there was still a scab. She smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're OK." He gave her another nod, then rubbed his cheek against her. She laughed. "Galaxy, you're the best horse ever. I love you. Thank you for my life." He whinnied. She rubbed him. "Oh, Gal, I'd like you to meet my new friend."

Liam was waiting patiently outside the stall, and Galaxy hadn't noticed him before, but now he looked curiously at the huge dog. Liam sniffed him, stretching his nose forward, but stayed seated. She guessed he wasn't trained to bark at other animals, which was good.

"Liam is just my new friend. He'll help protect us so you and I don't get hurt." Galaxy nickered. "Good boy!" She got Galaxy's grooming supplies and began to groom him. Liam lay watching from outside the open stall door.

"Hey Galaxy, I talked to Link today, over some letters. I ally hinted at the fact that something happened to us, but I didn't want to tell him. At least over letters, anyway. I'm afraid that I worried him too much, you know? You know that he gets worried easily, and how he gets when he's like that…I hope that he won't go crazy over that. I can image how he would act. I'm just thinking he'll get so angry when I do tell him, I mean, not at me but at something. I don't want him to get mad."

Galaxy listened with wide, open eyes, while enjoying his grooming. Meghan finished up.

She put her hands on his cheeks and put her forehead to his. "Galaxy, I'll always love and protect you as best I can. Please do forgive me."

He snorted gently under her face. She smiled and moved away.

"Want to go outside? I don't want to ride you but you can go in the paddock or on the field if you want."

He nodded and she brought him out to the paddock, where some horses were. He didn't seem to be in pain, but she just wanted to make sure not to reopen the wound or something.

"Meghan! Hi!" she heard Malon say. Malon was waving from in front of her house, coming to Meghan.

"Hi, Malon!" Meghan called. She let go of Galaxy's lead rope to go to Malon. "Malon, thank you so much for taking care of Galaxy."

"Of course! Any time, I love Galaxy. He did give the castle's Head of Stables a hard time coming here. You know how shy he is. Oh, and I heard about what happened. How terrible!"

At that point, Liam started growling.

"Oh, hello! You have a dog?"

"Liam, This is my friend! Don't growl…" Liam backed off.

"Sorry about that, he's my…guard dog now."

"Now worries. I hope you're all right now, though."

"I'm fine now."

"That's good."

"Um, I was just putting Galaxy out in the paddock."

"And then leaving?"

"Um…yes."

"All right, I'll talk to you soon, then!"

"Yeah." Meghan walked to the paddock, glancing around. She let Galaxy free inside, and then walked back with Liam right at her side.

They went to the Kokiri forest. When they entered, Meghan expected Liam to begin to growl at the Kokiri, but he didn't. Two s who were outside looked in awe at the huge dog, who was huge compared to them.

The s ran to pet him, and he panted at them and licked their hands, which were smaller than his mouth. They giggled and asked Meghan about him. She didn't know why he didn't growl at them. Maybe it was because the Kokiri were part of the forest, and animals knew they weren't any harm.

"He's soo huge!" they laughed. One of them sat on him, but it didn't bother him. Meghan laughed. She looked up, and saw Link's house. Momentary sadness hit her, but she tried to think he'd be back soon.

"I'll be right back," she said, not knowing whether Liam would follow her or not. He didn't, but she didn't mind or care.

She went to his house. Everything was like he'd left it. The bed was messily made, so she felt the urge to fix it. When that was finished, she sat in the corner. Everything was little, except the bed, which was large enough for him to fit in. Nothing else had changed from when he was a child.

Figuring staring at it wouldn't make him come back faster, she left. She saw that the attention Liam had drawn attracted more Kokiri. He just sat and panted and drooled. They laughed merrily at him, with not a care in the world. Nothing affected them. Whatever went on outside the walls, they were still children who could play all day long. So would be their lives forever. Fairies flitted above their heads, joining in on the fun.

Later, after the hype had died down, Meghan and Liam left the Kokiri behind them. They still had the rest of today to kill, and tomorrow. Then Link would be back, and she wouldn't have to miss him anymore. She willed herself to bear it.

Liam and Meghan went to Kakariko, where Meghan introduced him to a lot of people. But when she brought him to see the Gorons, he didn't growl or bark, just as he'd done to the Kokiri. Meghan assumed he must have been trained to only attack Hylians.

While most of her day was dedicated introducing Liam, she retired to the library later that day to do more reading and research, with some food in her hand.

She ate with Luke that night, since Zelda had (finally) come back that afternoon, but left again a few hours later. Luke gave up on his search for her, telling Meghan that she'd be found only if she wanted to be. Meghan laughed at that.

After they ate, Luke became quiet and serious, unlike his usual self. He looked at her seriously and said, "Meghan, there's something I must tell you."

"OK?" She didn't know what to expect.

"Well, Rilba, the…well, you know. Well I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to worry about him ever again."

"It's really not him I'm worried about."

"But I just wanted to let you know he's…well, he's . So…maybe the others will be scared…"

"He died? But…how?" She was worried. What if she killed him? Even though he'd meant to do the same…she just wasn't that type of person."

"Um…he ."

"What? Why?" But then she realized he probably couldn't answer that question.

"I don't know…but we found him."

"Oh…OK then. Thank you."

"Sure."

"Oh, I almost forgot to say—when Zelda comes back, will you tell her if you see her before I? —Link sent a note from Sierace's…he's there and OK. He'll be home Saturday, he thinks."

"That's good." Luke finally smiled.

After dinner, they went their separate ways. Meghan had taken a book out of the library, a romance novel, and took it to read in her room.

She took a bath first, even though she didn't feel dirty in the slightest. She felt like, being Hylian, her hair would never become oily, or she would never smell unpleasant, even if she waited weeks to bathe.

Not that she would do that.

The sweet aromas of the shampoos and soaps calmed her, like all her old favorite scents. Now she was certain she had a new favorite scent, but that scent didn't come in bottled form. She was glad for that, because she'd feel very angry if anyone else smelled like it. Like _him_.

She tried to imagine the smell, but she was sure she was making it less glorious in her mind than what it was like for real.

She started thinking about him, again, imagining him coming home early, tomorrow, or even right that moment.

Self-consciously, she made sure bubbles were covering her whole body in the bathtub. Though the door was closed and locked, and Liam sat right next to the door, she couldn't help but imagining things.

This time it was way worse than when she'd been swimming in her undies in an inconspicuous fountain in the middle of nowhere. Though, she was sure, as comfortable as they were together, he'd probably be sent running away, blushing madly and apologizing profusely if he saw her in anything less than her pajamas, which were _very_ concealing comparing. They were white shorts and a white top, and her now long legs and proportionate feet were clearly displayed. But that was pretty much it. She was sure if she was wearing anything less, he'd cry for forgiveness.

She thought about her legs. In reality, they were no longer than before, but were more proportionate in terms of muscle and fat. There wasn't much fat. And they were totally smooooth.

She was out of the bathtub now, wrapping a fuzzy bathrobe around herself. Liam stood up and followed her out of the bathroom.

She crossed to her bedroom and found her pajamas, clean again since this morning. She wanted to thank whoever cleaned up her room every day. It was really helpful.

The white shorts came about halfway down her thigh, long compared to shorts some human s wore. She laughed. She'd never worn shorts _ever_ in public for _years_ back home, even though it was encouraged. Her mom would always tell her she must have been so hot, go put shorts on!

But mom, I don't own any shorts!

But now, when people probably wouldn't look at it as an every day occurrence (in fact, most Hylian s wore dresses always in Hyrule) she actually wanted to wear shorts. It was probably, she told herself, her natural aversion to the normal.

She wanted to change them. She wanted to make short, to show off her legs. Blush, won't he! Why not?

She dug madly through all her drawers, still not knowing exactly what was where, or even what was in most of them. They were all very orderly. Then she finally found what she wanted.

She pulled out sewing needles, thread, and scissors. She took off the shorts and put some other pants on. She laid them on her bed, turning them inside out and measuring along the bottom where she would hem them.

How fun!

A while later, when they were finally finished, she cut off the excess material and tried them on. They were much shorter, and that made Meghan happy. For some reason…

She took the short-sleeved top off. She searched the closet, but didn't find exactly what she wanted.

She checked back in her drawers and found what she wanted again. Near the underclothes, she found a cami-like shirt. It was obviously ly to wear here, which is why it was found next to underclothes. That was wonderful! After all, it was a cami and nothing was wrong with it to her.

It was fitting around her body when she tried it on. Together with the altered shorts and top, she felt very hott, for someone who was just going to sleep.

She got her book, and then threw all her excess bed coverings on the floor. Maybe tomorrow she'd make the bed herself…

With a yawn, she sank back into her pillows and started to read. Liam jumped on the bed and lay next to her, sighing. She laughed, thinking that he was her surrogate Link. Not that anyone could take his place. And then, as hard as she tried to forget about him, she couldn't concentrate on the book and gave up.

She wondered if he'd sent her a letter back in the transporting apparatus thing. He probably had, but she'd left in a hurry after her last note. She really wanted to go see, she wanted another piece of him. She got up and found the pants she was wearing that day. She'd left the notes in her pocket. She took them out and brought them back to her bed. Liam sniffed them again. Meghan kept telling him "friend."

"_I don't want you to feel unsafe…I love you…I feel like there's something you're not telling me…"_

_And I'm not._

--

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Sierace. I really did learn a lot, and I'm very thankful for it. I finally know who I am and where I came from."

"I'm glad that I could help you." They were sitting in her small house, at the dining room table. Sierace had found the few items left behind by his mother. Link felt very happy. He felt even more that he belonged to something. Before he'd met Meghan, he felt very alone without a family.

"I know I said I was leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I think I should leave earlier. I 'm really worried."

"I'll be sad to see you go, but I understand if something is happening in Hyrule that you must leave. We must keep in touch, though."

"Of course. I'm so glad that I have another part of family to belong to. I mean, Meghan and I are liked family I guess, but this is different."

"Yes, I felt the same. I really didn't know that you were alive. Your mother and mine parted ways when I was so young, and I've only ever heard that your mother was pregnant with you. So I'll be sad to see you go. But next time you should bring Meghan. It's a bit shady around here, I won't lie, but I've never seen too much trouble."

"I regret not bringing her. I'm sure you'd get along well with her."

Sierace ed her head, her blue eyes mischievous, like Link's sometimes got. "You talk about her so much. You're so in love."

"…I am." Even though he'd only just met her, he could see the similarities between himself and Sierace. They had the same deep-blue eyes and a similar facial structure. Sierace, though, had darker, almost brown hair. Link's light blond hair, Sierace said, was from his father's side.

Their eyes were from both their mothers, because their mothers were sisters.

But the physical similarities weren't the only ones. Sierace had the same mischievous side, the quietly devious one. It must have been written in their genes. (As Meghan would say!)

"Well, I'm happy for you. Without her, you'd be lonely, because then you would have never found I exist, correct?"

"I suppose you're right." He was a bit distant then, though, because he started thinking about Meghan's vague messages. Something must have happened, he kept thinking.

"Don't worry about her. I'm sure she's fine. You'll be back soon anyway."

"Yeah."

After Meghan had gotten dressed, she went to the kitchen for breakfast for herself and Liam. Granice handed them their food jovially, asking Meghan how she was and other small talk things. Back in their room, Meghan and Liam ate alone and pondered what they would do that day.

"I really don't feel like going to the library again. But there must be something else to do here, this is a castle after all. It's certifiably huge."

They set off to wander the halls, Meghan keeping Liam close. They found many doors, some open, and some closed. Meghan looked in the open ones. Empty rooms, offices, and such things.

Somehow, they circled back to the room where the transporter was. She decided to check for a note, but she didn't want to risk sending one or Link would probably have a heart attack.

There was indeed a note there, and Meghan greedily looked at it.

"_Meghan, now I know there is something wrong. Please, you must tell me if something is wrong! I'll die from worry. I'm leaving earlier tomorrow morning than I said before. I need to know, you're being so vague. A watchdog? Nothing's wrong _at the moment_? Please don't leave. Talk to me. I'm very worried_."

Meghan bit her lip. Link knew something happened, of course. She was so stupid! Now he'd probably drive Sierace crazy with his worry. But it was no use sending him a letter now. He'd probably left hours ago.

She left the room, worrying herself about him.

She tried to bury herself in the task of searching the castle, but only ended up lost. She hadn't been paying attention to where she'd turned, and now they were in nowhere land.

"Liam, this sucks. Can you sniff your way back? No, of course you can't."

She sighed in frustration, stopping walking. Liam stopped and looked at her.

"We'll just get more lost if we keep going."

Liam whined.

"What?"

He started walking.

"No, Liam, come!" But she followed him to where he was going. They walked far down the corridor, where Meghan was certain they hadn't been. "Liam, this isn't the right way!"

He stopped at a huge, metal door. Meghan looked through the bars near the top, and saw nothing but darkness. Liam sniffed the air, then started to growl.

"What is that?" Meghan asked no one, but she thought she knew…

"The dungeon. Please, don't go in there."

Meghan turned to see Zelda, a solemn look on her face. Liam sniffed her and stopped his growling.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Liam led me here, I didn't know where he was going."

"Oh, it's all right, but just for your own sake. I wouldn't recommend it."

Meghan nodded.

"Come on, I have something for you to do." Zelda walked away. Meghan ran to catch up with her.

"OK…"

"I think it's time you were a citizen of Hyrule."

"What?" She was surprised. A citizen? Although she was sure it didn't matter as much if she was an illegal alien in Hyrule as it did in America, she was surprised that she even could become a citizen.

Zelda smiled at her. "Well, there are a few papers to fill out…but nothing drastic."

"Well, I have nothing else to do, really."

Zelda was so surprising. She just appeared out of nowhere when you needed her, and told you the weirdest things. And when she wanted to, she could disappear off the face of…Hyrule.

They arrived at an office, almost like Luke's, but smaller. Zelda knocked, and they were told to come in.

"Ah! Princess!" said an elderly man. Liam sniffed, but didn't bark.

"Good morning! Meghan, this is Umom Borabul, the Foreign Relations Master." (A/N—name compliments of my gooood friend Laila!)

"It is wonderful to meet you, Meghan! I hear you'll be applying for citizenship?"

"I guess I am. Nice to meet you too!"

"Here, I have all the papers right in this stack…" He looked about the neat piles of papers on the desk, leaning in close, then spotted the ones he needed. "Here!" He gave then to Zelda.

"Thank you."

"Just return them at any time, I'll be here most of the day."

"Thank you."

"Thanks!" Meghan added. She and Zelda left.

"He has been working here since my father's youth. But unlike certain people…I trust him completely with the affairs of the country."

Meghan nodded. She didn't know where they were going, but she followed Zelda. Liam plodded along beside her. Soon they were back at her room, and Zelda helped herself to Meghan's door. They walked in, and she handed Meghan the papers.

"Just fill these out, and I'll find you when you're done. We'll go to Barabul's office and finish the business. No hurry, by the way."

"OK…"

"Good! Then I will see you later."

She left the room. She turned the corner, back to find Luke, but there he was, in the corridor. His face was disapproving.

"You can't keep her locked in her room forever."

"Just until he returns.'

"She can take care of herself."

Zelda walked past him, responding, "I know, but I feel better with it this way."

He walked to catch up. "Yesterday you wanted nothing to do with us, but today you're being very protective? Zelda, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I'm worried about you. I think you need to relax more."

"If anything happens to her, he'll kill someone. I don't need that."

"Don't worry about him…"

"But…I feel _horrible_ without him!"

They both stopped walking. Luke's face was shocked.

She had feelings for Link? But then…what was _he_ to her?

"Luke, no, don't you take that the wrong way. It has nothing to do with how I feel about him. We're just…bonded. It's the Triforce. I feel what he feels, a lot of the time, when they're strong feelings. But when he's so far away, I feel different. I already feel like I lack power, the Power Triforce being gone, but now that he's so far, I feel like I'm lacking courage too. I can't do anything."

Luke had never known that before. The Triforce bonded them like that?

"It's strange. The way the lack of feeling manifests…like for me, I feel powerless ruling my country. I always feel like nothing I've done is right."

It was making sense to Luke, all her self-confidence issues.

"Right now, I don't have the courage to face my enemies, and so the best way I can face them is to hide. Hid her, hide me, hide you."

But what about Link? He never seemed powerless.

"And Link, he also suffers from the lack of power…but for him, he has no power in his love. He will do anything for her, to keep her safe, but he could never say no, never leave her. He's powerless against her and his feelings, not that it's a particularly bad thing, but he probably noticed. When she was threatened, everything left him. In these extreme circumstances, he becomes a slave to love and will give anything to defend it."

Everything made sense to Luke now. Did that mean that at that moment, Link had lost some of his wisdom?

Although neither of them knew it, he had. Link had grown rash in his worry for Meghan, and coupled with his lack of power against his love, gave up on finding _himself_ to protect her. He'd left early that day, and all he could think of was returning to her, making her safe. It plagued him. He couldn't think of anything rational, anything wise.

--

Meghan flopped the papers down on the desk. It wasn't a large stack, but not a small one either.

She took a quill, and began to fill it out.

"**Name**: Meghan Black

**Birthdate**: _(Wtf do I put? I doubt years are the same here…)_ 4-29-1991

**Current age**: 16

**Country of Origin**: _("America?" she said sarcastically out loud.)_ The United States of America

**Date of Emigration to Hyrule**: 3-28-07 (_Hardly emigration…)_

**Current residence**: Castle?

**Family Currently Living in Hyrule**: None (_Unless Link counts?)_

**Immediate family in Home Country**:_ (Why does this matter?)_

**Mother**: Ann Black **Address**: 112 Red Road, Neokillia, NY, 284285, USA

**Father**: Ray Black **Address**: Same

**Siblings**: Ed Black **Address**: Same

**Reason for Emigration**: _(HAHA well once upon a time there were some gods who decided to be mean to each other…)_

There is no reason.

**Reason for Residence in Hyrule** (i.e. Job, family…): I have nowhere else to live, and everyone I love lives here. So I thought it might make sense to live with the only people who actually know where I am.

Etc…etc…

**Please sign the declaration below:**

**I hereby confirm that I have come to live in this country of Hyrule with no intentions of crime, I intend to live peacefully for as long as I'm here, and I have provided no purposefully erroneous knowledge. **_(Well technically I came here to wreak havoc across the land as a human destructo-girl. But I'm sure you'll let that slide, right?)_

_Meghan Black_

"Well, finally, that's done," Meghan whined. "I hope there's no ceremony like they have in the US for new citizens." If there was, she definitely wanted to wait until Link returned. Which was tomorrow, she remembered excitedly.

She stood and took the papers with her to the door. She was going to find Zelda, or otherwise Mr. Borabul to give back the papers.

She probably should have been more excited, more honored to be gaining citizenship, but she wasn't. She was nearly halfway down the hallway when Zelda appeared around the corner, a too-huge smile on.

"Finished already? All right, let's go to bring those back. Mr. Borabul will need to just look over those papers, but I doubt he'll see anything at all wrong with them. You'll be a citizen in no time."

"Can we wait until Link is back, though, for me to be? I'd like him to be here."

"Of course. Link. I'm also eager for his return. Sierace! I wonder how she's doing?"

"Oh, right, did Luke tell you Link sent messages?"

Zelda looked at her, her smile mostly faded. "Did he?"

"Yeah…he said he was fine, he's coming home tomorrow. He left this morning."

"Early!"

"Yeah. He says things went well."

"Good, good."

"Zelda, you seem out of it."

"Do I?" Zelda stopped walking. "I suppose I can't fool anyone…"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing…" She started walking. "Really, I'm just very stressed. It's all this…these followers. I don't know if or when new ones will pop up. I makes me angry that…well, we couldn't stop it."

"Zelda, you know, no matter what, there's always going to be someone who goes against everyone else. Just because there are people who think like them doesn't mean you or anyone did anything wrong. We did stop it. You and Link, anyway. The worst of anything is over. You know that. You saved the world, Zelda, you saved everything."

"No…there's still saving to be done."

"Zelda, don't you realize that no one's suffering like they were before? This is harsh…but doesn't that mean something? Just because there are a few weaklings out there who think they're resisting…it means nothing at all. The world is peaceful, and you two saved it."

They stopped walking. Zelda looked at her, appreciation and understanding in her eyes.

"Thank you, Meghan." She stared, then shook her head. "Thank you, you…you just saved my head. You're completely right, I shouldn't be so worried. He's gone, he really is…"

"He _is_," Meghan agreed.

"Oh, Meghan. You're so correct, I'm so naive."

Meghan finally saw the truth in Zelda's eyes. Suddenly it felt like a heavy cloud had lifted, and Zelda was back to who she was. Meghan wasn't sure that what she said had done anything, but she felt her friend returned to her. A truly genuine smile was finally on her face, and Zelda hugged her tightly. Meghan returned it.

When they separated, Zelda said in her normal, cheery, honest voice, "Now, let's go return those papers!"

**Hope you enjoyed. Now, I wonder if anyone's even still reading this story? Lol!**

**Gah, the next chapter is the last! I may cry... :'(**


	70. End: My Endless Ocean, Returned to Me

**No! Tis the end! Can you believe that, after three years? It took me so long!**

She'd had a hard time sleeping that night and she woke up very early. Liam stirred groggily next to her, yawning. She looked at the clock. It was 7:54, but she didn't feel tired or like going back to sleep. She could only think of Link. He was returning today. She felt giddy and anxious as she got out of bed. She paced across the room a few times, trying to shut off the spaz attacks. Finally she got enough sanity to get dressed. She put on black pants and a black short-sleeved shirt. She combed her hair carefully, making sure it looked nice.

She didn't know why she was preening herself, though. It'd be hours before Link even came. But she could feel him coming closer every minute.

She went into the living room, Liam following, and sat on the couch, her leg bouncing impatiently.

"Liam, I can't wait that long…" She bit her lip in impatience. "Ew. What should I do? I need something to pass the time…it's only 8 o' clock!"

She bounced over to the door, opening it in a swift movement, and bounded down the hall. She ran fast down the hall, burning her energy away. The feeling of impatience was growing in her, and the faster she ran, the easier it was to forget. Liam galloped along at her side.

She passed few people on her way out, but once she was out, she didn't stop. She was breathing hard, but she didn't stop yet. She got to the town, but her energy still needed burning. She soon reached the field, when she finally began to slow from tiredness and lack of air.

Liam lagged far behind, so she waited for him, crouching down to his height and clapping her hands in encouragement. "Come on, Liam-boy!"

Liam ran into her arms, licking her. "Ew! OK, OK!" She laughed. She was hyper.

They ran deeper into the field, where she hadn't been in a long time. Patches of wildflowers grew there, and Liam ran through them and playfully attacked them. Meghan laughed more, and sat down near a patch. She carefully pulled the delicate white blooms into a bouquet, anticlimactically finding a green rupee in the process. She laughed at the strange chance. It didn't _happen_ in real life. But here it had.

She had a giant bunch of flowers, which she held close to her as she and Liam walked down the field. For some reason, she wasn't scared like she probably should be. It felt normal to walk along the field and not suspect something to pop up around a tree and harm her. She guessed that the reason she felt so happy was because she knew he was so close, but she was free at the moment. She didn't have to wait much longer, but for these few hours, she could do what she wanted until he did come.

She'd gotten only about twenty feet when her giddiness returned. She started spinning, flowers fanning out around her as she did. Liam caught a few flowers in his mouth. She and Liam made their way to Lon Lon, where Galaxy was finally declared well enough to ride.

Meghan saddled him up, and took him out through the field. But soon her stomach started to grumble, telling her she needed food. She sighed and brought Galaxy near the drawbridge, and left to the castle to get breakfast.

In the kitchen, she looked at the clock. It was already 10:00. Granice gave her and Liam food, and Meghan ran off to her room to devour it.

After giving Liam fresh water, she sat at the couch with her plate. She thought to herself that this would be the very last lonely meal she'd eat in a VERY long time.

She wasn't going to let Link get away from her this long ever again.

Meghan began day dreaming about him yet again, and was overjoyed at the fact that their confabulations would continue in only a few hours.

She was surprised when there was a knock at the door.

"Meghan, it's me!" Zelda called. Zelda opened the door just as Meghan got up.

There was a huge smile on Zelda's face.

"Look, Meghan!"

She held out the back of her bare right hand. Meghan moved closer, and noticed what Zelda was showing her. The Triforce glowed slightly!

"He's close!"

"Very close. He'll be here soon. He'll be in Hyrule field in a couple minutes."

"The field?"

"He found a different route, I suppose! But it shouldn't be long before he arrives."

"Are you sure?" It seemed surreal now, that he'd be so close.

"If you run out to the field, you should be able to meet him."

"Really?" Meghan yelled, so happy. "Oh goddesses! OK, talk to you soon! Liam, stay here!"

"I'll watch after him." Zelda took his collar so he wouldn't follow.

Meghan ran top speed again, breezing through the town like there was fire at her feet. She was soon running over grass, and she made her way to the stonewall, where she could see most of the field. She was beyond excited…she hoped Zelda was right.

She looked to the direction of Gerudo Valley. A slight breeze blew her hair around. She pushed it behind her ears so it wasn't in her face. Ah, these ears were beginning to have their advantages.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her, wrapping his or her arms around her waist. She yelped, not really sure why she had. She knew who it was…

She felt his lips on her hair, giving her a small kiss before allowing her to turn.

"You're finally back!" she cried, the largest smile on her face.

Link smiled and nodded, holding her hands.

"I missed you so much…" she sighed, almost choking on her words.

"I did too."

Meghan skipped forward and hugged him, taking comfort in his embrace. She felt completely safe, finally. No one could hurt her…she was absolutely safe. She felt warmth, love, and every other feeling imaginable. Bliss.

Navi popped up beside Link, hovering near Meghan's face.

"Hi, Navi!"

"Hi Meghan! How are you?"

"Pretty well…"

Navi smiled.

"So what did she say?" Meghan asked, pulling back, but holding his hands. His smile faded. "Was it…bad, Link?"

"Well…Sierace is my cousin." Meghan was surprised. Link had family! It was amazing. "She told me a lot of things I didn't know, about the family, about the history, and my parents…"

"What did she say about your parents?" Was there a name for his mother? Her grave could finally have a name.

"Well, she told me a lot about my mom. Her mother and my mother were sisters. Sierace is four years older than I am…she remembered my mother a little bit. She was still young, though, and her memories are faded, but she knew her name."

Meghan smiled. "What is it?"

"Kalena."

Meghan gasped. Her best friend from home's name was Kalena…she had the same name as her Link's mother…how wonderful! She smiled.

"Link, one of my best friends at home had the same name."

"That's…incredible."

"It must be destiny, somehow…do you know your last name?" She looked with curious eyes at his beautiful face.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, OK, what is it?"

"Well, I guess this too is destiny," he said while smiling and watching Navi flit everywhere. "I like my name. Link _Navi_. It's such an odd coincidence. Very surprising. Or maybe it was purposeful."

"Wow, that's amazing!" She quickly paired her on name with his, not really thinking. Meghan Navi. It sort of rolled off the tongue. "I'm so happy for you."

"I learned lots of other things."

"Such as?" she asked softly, interlocking her fingers with his.

"Well, I learned what my mother was like. Sierace had a few things of hers that her mother had. I learned everyone's birthdays…"

"When's yours?' Meghan asked, smiling. Oh! He was going to get it for giving her all those presents…

"November 13th."

"You do look like a November-y type."

He laughed. "I learned about my father, too."

"What was he like?"

He swung their hands back and forth. "His name was Aleron. He was a soldier, I believe, during the Great War, but he didn't work for the king. He just helped. But he died when he was fighting. Sierace said that he was known for his skill with the sword."

"Must run in the family!"

"I suppose so…" he said modestly.

"They'd be so proud of their son," she touched his flawless face, "the Hero of Time!"

"I guess…" He tried to hide a smile as he looked down a blushed slightly.

"Aw, you're so modest!" She felt her love for him swell. He was here and being a perfect person again! She couldn't get enough of him. He lifted his face. He stared deeply into her eyes. Then his smile grew.

She was surprised when he picked her up, one arm under her knees and one on her back. "But I'm back now and that's all that matters at the moment."

"I'm so glad you're here…" she whispered. He spun her around and she tilted her head back and laughed as the wind blew her hair. He stopped and looked at her again, loving everything about her. She looked into his beautiful eyes, her endless ocean returned to her. She suddenly wondered how she ever lived without him and everything about him.

She put her arms around his neck and lifted her face to his. "Please don't leave me again…please don't leave me alone…don't make me wait again…" she whispered.

"Never again. I missed you just as much," he spoke softly into her ear. His words echoed in her mind and she knew she'd always be with him, forever and always, and she'd always be safe…

She brought her face into alignment with his, and let her lips meet his lightly.

No more waiting.

* * *

_**Credits**_

Based on the story written by:  
Aberrant Bliss

Director:  
Aberrant Bliss

Producer:  
Aberrant Bliss

Artwork:  
Aberrant Bliss

**Starring:**

Meghan Black—Aberrant Bliss

Link Navi—Link

Zelda of Hyrule—Zelda

General Spymaster Luke Rinelo—Luke Rinelo

Epona Navi—Epona

Galaxy—Galaxy

Navi—Navi the Fairy

Liam Puppy!—Himself

**Also Featuring (In Order of Appearance):**

Gannondork—Gannondorf

Nayru, Farore, and Din—Themselves

Kokiri Twins—Kokiri Twin s

The Kokiri—Themselves

Saria, Sage of Forest—Saria

Gordley the Goron—Gordley

God—A **figment** of everyone's imagination

Shiek—Zelda

Princess Ruto of the Zoras, Sage of Water—Princess Ruto

Impa of the Shiekah, Sage of Shadows—Impa

Rauru, Sage of Light—Rauru

Malon—Malon

Lady with food, Dog Trainer, Kakariko resident—Richard's owner

Great Deku Sprout—Great Deku Sprout

Great Deku Tree--A tree (poor thing)

Great Fairy of the Desert—Great Fairy of Wisdom

Nabooru of the Gerudo, Sage of Spirit—Nabooru

Koume and Kotake—Themselves

Narma—The first guard you see when you wall into the fortress

Kiku—Guard near the prison

Shada—Guard near the top there

Tamay—Guard on the gate

Carpenters—Ichiro, Sabooru, Shiro, Jiro, and the Chief

Seamstresses—Residents of Hyrule Castle Town

Goron Link—Link, son of Darunia

Evil Ex-General Shina—Shina

Damn Birds—Stupid Birds

Mr. Ingo—Mr. Ingo

Lady at the Jewelry Shop in the Bazaar—The Owner of that Place

Zora Shopkeeper—Garbanzo

Kazana—Kalena

Mayano—My brother's friend

Lima—Alicia

Young Sierace—Sierace's 2nd cousin's three times removed's half brother's cousin

Young Zelda—Zelda

Owner of the Fishing Place—Himself

Little Dia Peach—Dia

Devan Peach—Devan

Owner of the Game—Himself

Sheftali Peach—Sheftali

Shina's Followers—Disgusting old geezers

Ew Assassin Rilba who probably couldn't even shoot a bow--Rilba

Sierace—Sierace

Mother in the Prophecy—Aberrant Bliss' Mommy! (lol)

Granice the Cook—Granice!

Umom Borabul—Himself

_**Songs  
**__(You didn't see most of these, but they're in my own personal copy of the story and I'd like to acknowledge them)_

"Inner Universe"  
Written and Performed by Origa  
(_Appears during the fight with Koume and Kotake when Link is getting beat, chapter 14_)

"Revelation"  
Words by Dripping Ink, Music by Koji Kondo  
(_During the Gerudo party, chapter 16_)

"Seven Nation Army"  
Written and performed by White Stripes  
(_Meghan sings it in chapter 20 to Link and Darunia_)

"Only One"  
Music written and performed by Yellowcard  
(_This appears in my copy when Meghan is leaving Link, in chapter 20, to go live in the castle and is packing her things and riding Epona. This scene always makes me cry if I listen to the music when reading it! . _)

"Vindicated"  
Written and Performed by Dashboard Confessional  
_(This plays in my version in chapter 24 as Link sneaks up behind Meghan in the water and almost kisses her. Haha, actually I do believe that in this internet version I ally missed deleting a line of the song out, so it says "__So let me slip against the current" randomly in the middle of nowhere XD _

"Sing Me to Sleep"  
Written and performed by Me! Aberrant Bliss  
_(Chapter 26)_

"And She Waited"  
Written and Performed by Me!  
_(On the last day just before Link puts the sword back.)_

"Soundless Lullabies"  
Written and Performed by ME!  
_(Party Time!)_

"Cold Memories"  
ME!  
_(Party Time!)_

"God Called In Sick Today"  
Written and performed by AFI  
_(This is in my version and it plays when Meghan is being attacked by Rilba in the rain, and when Galaxy brings her back to the castle, chapter 32)_

"Death of Seasons" and "The Great Disappointment"  
Written and Performed by AFI  
(_Meghan sings these to calm herself down in chapter 33_)

"The Dispirited Trance"  
Written and performed by Me! Aberrant Bliss  
_(This is the poem Meghan writes in chapter 33)_

"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"  
Written and Performed by My Chemical Romance  
_(Generic music to describe Meghan and Link.)_

"Disenchanted"  
Written/performed by My Chemical Romance  
_(Epilogue Music)_

"The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows"  
Written/Performed by Brand New  
_(It was a candidate for the ending credits music, since I thought it fit the general idea of the story)_

"All Around Me"  
Written/Performed by Flyleaf  
_(Meghan's feelings for Link…and another candidate for ending credits song…)_

"Good Enough"  
Written/Performed by Evanescence  
_(Another candidate for ending credit music…it fits Meghan's feeling for Link 100 but I thought it was just a BIT too happy…haha)_

"October"  
Written and performed by Evanescence  
_(The song playing during these credits! And if this was a movie, it'd start playing like when Link picks her up in the very last scene. I chose this because it's basically the whole mood of the story and Meghan's feelings. Go to youtube or something and look it up, then listen to it while reading the credits/ending chapter. It made me cry! XD)_

And I'd also like to add to this list the artists who inspired me so much, if I tried to put all the songs I'd listened to while writing in here, this story would _be_ a song!

So mostly I'd like to thank Evanescence, who gave me strength for life and so much more…and Amy Lee who is my idol! (You might have noticed I mentioned her many times in here…)

Also…AFI  
Muse  
My Chemical Romance  
From First to Last  
Placebo  
30 Seconds to Mars

_**Super Special Thanks to:**_

Lara (AKA the Nerd Banger) my wonderful CHG friend who read this story, last summer, even though she had no idea about anything Zelda related and gave me a few ideas when I had writer's block. (Specifically Rilba's attack on Meggie) She also proofread.

Laila (AKA ButtFish) my other wonderful CHG friend who, although she is still working on finishing reading this story, is always an extremely encouraging figure when it comes to all my insane stories. She's always willing to read them. And she gives nice long reviews. XD

Kalena, my best friend since kindergarten, who contributed the idea of Kazana and her family. She also gave important ideas for the sequel. (She never actually read the story, though!)

Kayla, a BFFLAS who used to share obsessions like me and knew what I'm going through…I can't thank her enough for always being there. And for reading this!

And just for the hell of it, my Virulent Twin, Justine, who always helps me through everything you could imagine, and although she never understands my vagueness, this is what I've been talking about the whole time! She's my evil half. (I'm the honorary Exemplary Twin.) It's fun being microwaves! Love you, Twinny!

Lastly, Alicia, one of my other best friends, who's like my muse in everything I write. She's always ready to contribute ideas, no matter what story I write or how insane. She was also into acting my stories aloud on the bus home, and that amused and embarrassed me greatly (in a good way!). She's greatly inspiring, and I wish she hadn't moved! "_I miss you"_ doesn't cover it, 'Licia!

_**Special Special Thanks to:**_

All my reviewers! I have had so many, it would be to go and name everyone! (I'm incredibly lazy) But that makes me happy! I love you guys; you gave me so much strength, really!

OK, it's 3:40 in the morning of 8-12-07, and I just finished writing. I feel so great. I, ME, finally finished a story. It feels great. And I'm happy how it turned out, I suppose.

This story began as a random scene that popped into my head almost three years ago. It had NO plot whatsoever, only that I wanted Meghan and Link to be madly in love. It soon grew into something more solid, something original. There was a time when I was addicted to it. I stopped writing in 2006 because this lifestyle of being so obsessed was taking a toll on me very badly. That summer, I took it up again and probably only wrote 2 chapters. Short chapters, comparing to my standard of 20-30 pages. Haha, that's insane.

I gave it up nearly exactly one year ago, and then this summer, it found my interest again. But I was tired of never fulfilling my dreams. This morning, I told my friend Laila I'd have this story finished for her tomorrow.

Here it is, finished. I hope you enjoyed it, I really do. I put , sweat, and tears into it. No exaggeration at all.

And you, Link. Yeah, you. You ruined my life, but I had a fun time while you were doing it. : )

Tomorrow in my head? Sure.

DUN DUN DUN…

THE END!

(But you know it never will be…)

Final page count: 384 pages.


	71. Epilogue

****This is the old epilogue, not the rewritten epilogue. For that, please go to the chapter "Remix: Epilogue." Thank you! :) ****

**Epilogue**

Zelda, Meghan, Link, Luke, and Liam all sat in the dining room, after enjoying a nice meal. Meghan was attached to Link. They'd held hands the whole dinner, an easy task for them because Meghan was right-handed and Link was a lefty. Link had told them all about everything he'd talked to Sierace about, and Zelda's obvious surprise at the fact that he and Sierace were so closely related was funny to everyone.

Luke noticed Zelda's spirit lightened, as soon as Link was close. She had back her charisma, her everything. She was smiling and laughing the way he knew she should, and it comforted him a great deal. Having all three of them there was even comforting. They were like a family.

After one particularly gleeful comment about the drooling Liam, Link looked back to Meghan's face, his eyes dancing and a wide smile on his face. He tilted his head ever so slightly, observing her. She stared back, smiling at his scrutinizing look.

"What?" she joked, though she was happy that he was there, staring. It felt normal, after so many days of torturous separation from him.

"I just thought…" he let go on her hand and touched her face. Meghan grew hot from embarrassment; he was being so affectionate in front of Luke and Zelda. His fingers traced below her eye in a horizontal line, and his face turned not upset, but questioning. "You do have a cut on your face."

"Oh…"

She started to panic. She knew he'd have to find out sooner or later, but why sooner? They were so happy. She knew he'd get so angry as soon as someone told him what'd happen to her.

"What's it from?" he asked, still only curiously, not yet upset. She certainly didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. She saw Zelda and Luke looking on from the corner of her eye, ready to intervene if necessary.

His eyes quickly looked down her body, landing on her arm, where the larger, more visible cut was. Unlike human cuts, they were merely dents in skin, the same color as her skin but deeper set and _entirely_ noticeable.

"Another one."

"Oh…"

"Where are they from?" Maybe one cut he'd believe was an , but two totally different ones would be hard to make a story that would fit each.

Suddenly, he knew. It was stupid of him to forget her vague messages she'd sent him at Sierace's house, but in the excitement of returning, he had. Now he knew something had happened.

"Your notes…something happened, I know it did. The reason for Liam. You wouldn't have him for no reason at all." He turned to look at Luke and Zelda, their faces calm, about to talk. But Meghan did first.

"Something did happen," she nearly whispered. "But I'm fine, except scratches. But everything's fine now. He's ."

"Who?" Link demanded, anger and confusion growing. "Please, tell me what happened."

Meghan had trouble continuing, so Luke took over.

"Another follower. But he's now, so he's not a problem."

Link stood up in anger, nearly knocking his chair over. "Why wouldn't you tell me?' he said. He felt utterly left out, almost like they felt he couldn't trust him. Meghan stood too, shaking her head, and wrapping her arms around him.

"I didn't want you to worry! I really couldn't tell you. I it when you're always so worried about me. You need to live without worrying so much!"

"Just tell me what happened," he said quietly, trying to control his anger.

"I…OK." She waited a second, composing herself. "I was in the field, and it started to rain so I had to get off Galaxy…and he was coming, but I didn't know he meant to do anything…bad. He acted nice at first, he asked if I needed help with Galaxy, but I said no and tried to get on Galaxy, but he wouldn't let me."

Zelda and Luke were completely silent, not expecting her to tell the story in such detail, detail they hadn't even heard.

"He pulled me back, he…knocked me down…" her voice her ing.

Link protectively, unconsciously held her tight to himself, listening to her story with the anger that he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

"He had a sword, and I had…I had nothing. I never expected anything like that to happen…it was such a short trip…and he wouldn't let me get away, I tried but he hit me and cut me. Galaxy tried to help, but I had nothing…"

There were tears in her eyes, her voice weak.

"I couldn't get away, I tried so hard…and he hurt Galaxy…but then I remembered…"

"Fury blast," they said at the exact same moment. Meghan nodded against his shoulder. "And then he was ."

"From…the blast?" Link asked quietly.

Luke made a sound of protest, but Meghan looked at him. "Luke, I know what happened. It's not hard to figure out."

Luke looked at her empty eyes. She'd never meant to do it, but it took a toll on her. She tried not to think of it and continued.

"Anyway, Galaxy brought me back here, and I'm OK now. I promise."

"OK…if you're OK…you're sure? You're fine? Only cuts?"

"Perfect…I promise."

"OK…OK." He sighed. "_I'm never ever leaving you again_," he whispered to her.

"Please don't…"

Later that night, Meghan and Link were in her living room. She leaned up against Link, half in his lap, her face buried in his chest, her legs curled up on the couch beside him. His arms were around her back, holding her to him. One hand rubbed her back methodically, lulling her into relaxation beyond any she'd experienced in days. She felt safe, safer than she remembered feeling safe. Her eyes were drooping, and although, yet again it wasn't later, the bad sleep and lack of sleep from the previous nights were taking a toll on her. Her breathing became slower, deeper, and she was forgetting where she was…

"Hey…" he said quietly, the sound humming in his chest. "You're tired. Go put your night clothes on and go to bed."

"Mmm…only if you'll be there…"

"Of course."

"Mmkay…" she murmured, not at all wanting to get up, but he helped her to her feet. She stumbled to her room, yawning. She pulled her pajamas out in her comatose state, not even remembering her alterations. The idea of her pajamas being shorts and a cami was so familiar to her that she didn't think twice about it. She forgot about her scheme.

While she changed, Link told Liam to lie on the couch. Liam listened, sighing and closing his eyes. His duties were officially finished.

After getting changed, she opened the door to let Link in, her eyes half opened.

He walked forward, her predictions correct. He was unsure that whether in her half-asleep state, she'd pulled the wrong clothes. He certainly had never seen her wear these. He didn't want to embarrass her, though, so his hesitation was only momentary as he met her in the bedroom in his own makeshift pajamas.

She looked up to his face, somehow registering the red on his face. "What's wrong?" she sighed, sitting on the bed.

"Um…nothing." His forehead creased, as he looked her. She hadn't even pulled the extra coverings from the bed as usual. "Hey, love, just stand for one second…" he murmured. She obeyed, confused for only a second. He pulled the covers, and tons of pillows onto the floor, into a much neater pile than she usually managed. She fell right back onto the edge of the bed, curled into a ball at the end, her long legs right up to her chin. He went to her and picked her up, repositioning her at a normal spot, then he lay down next to her, facing her. She smiled with droopy eyes, and he smiled back.

"What's with the color?" she asked again, in regards to his reddened face, which was starting to clear.

"Oh…nothing."

"No, really."

"Um…well, I'm sorry, but what are you wearing?"

"My pajamas?" Something…she remembered something…this was supposed to happen. She smiled.

"I've never seen you wear anything like that before."

"Is that bad?" She remembered now.

"No…I don't mean it like that…"

"What do you mean, then?"

"It's…" he struggled to find decent words, only blushing more in the process. "Revealing?"

She laughed weakly. "So you don't like me revealing myself? Is it wrong to show skin? I'm being entirely decent."

"No, no, not at all, I didn't mean it like that…I mean, wear whatever you want…it's just weird. Is this another Earthly fashion?"

"Of course, silly. I was getting tired of wearing so much. Especially just to sleep in…"

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with it, really."

"I'm not actually revealing anything, though, now am I?" Now she was teasing him on purpose. His face turned darker yet. She laughed again. "You're so predictable…"

"You did this on purpose?"

"Yes and no! I wanted to be more comfortable, but I wanted to see what you'd do. You probably thought I'd forgotten to finish getting dressed."

"Um…yeah, sorta."

"Silly boy." She closed her eyes and snuggled closer. Almost hesitant at first, he put her arm around her back. Soon, though, he felt like he belonged again, and he knew it was still the same . It didn't matter what she wore, she was his and he was hers.

"_You're beautiful,_" he whispered. She smiled, knowing that in his embrace was the strength to do anything, and in his words was the encouragement to go on, and his soul's presence, her soul's will to live, happy.

Together, forever.

**Sequel will be out soon, I promise! I have most of the first chapter written…and after that it'll go fast (I hope) because I know everything that'll happen. I just have to write it down.**

**GAH NOOO**

**It's the end! (for real)**

**I really really hope you enjoyed! thank you for everyone's reviews!**


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